MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Bring the good old bugle, boys! we'll sing another song, 
Sing it with a spirit that will move the world along— 

Sing it as we used to sing it, fifty thousand strong, 
While we were marching through Georgia. 

Chorus. — " Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee! 

Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free! ; * 
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea, 
While we were marching through Georgia. 

How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound! 

How the turkeys gobbled which our commissary found! 
How the sweet potatoes even started from the ground, 

While we were marching through Georgia. 

Chorus. — " Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee," etc. 

Yes and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears, 

When they saw the honor'd flag they had not seen for years; 

Neither could they be restrained from breaking forth in cheers, 
While we were marching through Georgia. 

Chorus. — " Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee," etc. 

" Sherman's dashing Yankee Boys will never reach the coast' 5 

So the saucy rebels said, and 'twas a handsome boast. 
Had they not forgot, alas! to reckon with the host, 
. While we were marching through Georgia. 

Chorus. " Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee," etc. 

So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train, 
Sixty miles in latitude — three hundred to the main; 

Treason lied before us, for resistance was in vain, 
While we were marching through Georgia. 

Chorus. — 1 Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the Jubilee," etc. 

— By Permission of S. BrainarcVs Sons. Cleveland. 



MARCHING 



Through Georgia. 



PEN-PICTURES OF EVERY-IUY LIFE 

IN GENERAL SHERMAN'S ARM V, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE ATLANTA 
CAMPAIGN UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE WAR 

n 

F. Y. HEDLEY, 

ADJUTANT THIRTY* SECOND ILLINOIS INFANTRY, MKMBER OF SOCIETY OF TUE ARMY CF 

THE TENNESSEE. 



ILLUSTRATE D BY F. L. STODDARD, 



CHICAGO : 

DONOHUE, HENNEBERRY& CO. 

407-425 Dearborn Street 
1890 

Li 



a 



345i< 



COPTEIGHT, 

F . Y , IIEDLEV, 
1884; 



DEDICATION. 



TO MARY S. LOGAN, 

Wife of Major General John A. Logan, himself a Conspicuous Repre- 
sentative of the Volunteer Soldiery of the Nation, and through 
Her to the Noble Wives, Mothers and Sisters of the Volun- 
teer Soldiers, whose Generous Deeds, Weary Anxieties 
and Tearful Mournings during the Great Struggle, 
were the Most Sacred Sacrifices made at 
the Altar of Patriotism, these Pages 
are Dedicated with Affection and 
Reverence. 

The Author. 



ACCEPTANCE. 

I thank you for the honor you do me in dedicating your bool^ to me, and 
through me to " The Noble Wives, Mothers and Sisters of our Volunteer Soldiers." 
We have been drifting too rapidly from the memories of those terrible marches and 
battles and anxieties, and I am glad that you have written as you have, for the 
narrative will reawaken a spirit of gratitude to those who battled and suffered, and 
stimulate patriotism in the breasts of those who have grown up since the days of war. 

With great respect, • 
Mary S. Logan. 



1 



PEEFACE. 



This volume does not pretend to be a tactical history of the 
campaigns of which it treats, and the grand movements of the Army 
are only mentioned in the most general way. Neither is it meant 
to extol the achievements of any particular individual or command. 

It is intended to be. as its title indicates, a scries of Pen- 
Pictures of the Every-Day Life of the Soldier during the campaigns 
beginning with the movement against Atlanta— how he lived, how 
he marched, and how he fought on skirmish line and in the 
]ine-of-battle. Its descriptions and incidents are drawn from the 
personal experiences of the author and those of his immediate com- 
rades, and his recollection of events is freshened and confirmed by 
very complete diary entries, made at the time. They are from t lie 
standpoint of soldiers in the ranks, with whom the writer served 
as one of their number during a portion of the time covered by 
the narrative, and from whom he was never so far removed but 
that he was fully acquainted with their actions and sentiments. 

These experiences, save in a very few instances, are such as 
were peculiar to no one soldier, but common to all. and any one 
of sixty thousand of "Sherman's Men" might sa\ r that his own 
history is contained in these pages. The incidents will prove at 
least suggestive enough to enable such a one to recall almost for- 
gotten scenes. To his children they may not be uninteresting, 
telling as they do the story of what their lather saw and did 
" While we were marching through Georgia;" and it may happen 
that some young man, who is hereafter to bear arms in the service 
of r his country, will draw from the narrative an inspiration to 
unselfish and patriotic effort. 

The author offers no apology for his style of wiitiug. He has 

7 



8 



PREFACE. 



made no endeavor to meet the possible requirements of critics, but has 
written for those who b) T reason of experience or sympathy can 
enter into the spirit which actuated the Volunteer Soldier during 
the War for the Union. Many of these pages have been submitted 
to the criticism of one of the most prominent leaders of these men, 
and he has been pleased to say: "You write with great facility, 
and bring back to me, both in language and style, the occurrences 
of the war most vividly." With such commendation the author 
does not hesitate to place his work before his old comrades. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Drummer Boy. Rallying to the Defense of the Flag. The Drummer the Most 
Conspicuous Figure in the Army. - - - - 17 

CHAPTER II. 

The School of the Soldier. How he was Educated. The Difference Made by Rank. 
Heavy Marching Order. Surprised by the Paymaster. - - 25 

CHAPTER III. 

The First Dead. A. Gunboat Expedition. The Tennessee River Opened Up. A 
Gallant Fight. Death of a Noble Young Soldier. How a Company was 
Reduced. - - - - - - -32 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Growth of a Regiment. A Nondescript Command. Forts Henry and Done! • 
son. Battle of Shiloh. Siege of Corinth. Trouble on Account of Slave Eman- 
cipation. Siege of Vicksburg. - - - - 42 

CHAPTER V. 

The Army and its Personnel. Troops Gathering at Chattanooga. Their Glorious 
Record. A Pen Picture of Ge leral Sherman. - - 60 

CHAPTER VI. 

Making Ready. Accumulating Supplies. Protecting the Railroad. The Railroad 
Construction Corps. The Telegraph Corps. The Signal Service. Blazing its 
Way. Georgia to be Overrun with the Bivouac. Wagons Lightened and Men 
Loaded Down. Patent Coffee. - - - - 69 

CHAPTER VII. 

En Avant ! The Advant?ges of Harmony. Grant Crosses the Rapidan, and Sher- 
• man Moves Out of Chattanooga. Engagement at Rocky Face Gap. The 
Enemy Abandons Cassville. Allatoona Occupied by Sherman. - 82 

CHAPTER VIII. 

An Incidental Campaign. A Severe Forced March. How Straggling was Punished. 
The Amende Honorable. - - - • - - qi 

CHAPTER IX. 

View from Ackworth. A Grand Panorama. Kcnesaw Mountain. The Troops in 
Action at Big Shanty. A Railroad Engine Fired on by Artillery. Telegraph 
Communication Restored. ------ 100 

CHAPTER X. 

The Entire Union Army in Line. The Blue Line Crowding the Gray. The Soldier 
on the Skirmish Line. Captor and Prisoner. An Independent Skirmisher. 
Fighting for Apples. The Line of Battle. Under an Artillery Fire. Sports 
behind the Works. - - - - - - 106 

CHAPTER XI. 

Before Kenesaw. Bishop-General Polk Killed. The Enemy Abandons Pine and 
Lost Mountains. Privations of the Union Troops. A Desperate Assault upon 
the Enemy's Lines. ______ 122 

CHAPTER XII. 

Race for the Chattahoochee. A Horrible Night March. A Weird Spectacle. An 
Army of Phantom Giants. Profanity in the Ranks. - - - 130 



10 



CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER XIII 

The Lines on the Chattahoochee. A Long Flank March. Destruction of " French" 
Cotton Mills. Johnston's Masterly Retreat. He is Superseded by Hood. A 
Sharp Engagement. General Gresham Wounded. - - - 137 

CHAPTER XIV. 

A Famous Division. Complimented by Sherman. Its Commanders : Hurlbut, Lau- 
man, Crocker, Gresham, Giles A. Smith and Belknap. Personal Anecdotes. 145 

CHAPTER XV. 

Dies Irae. The Battle of July 22c!. The Attack on Sherman's Le r c. His Troops 
Fighting on Both Sides of their Works. The Iowa Brigade Enveloped. Cap- 
ture of^both Union and Rebel Regiments. General Belknap Pulls a Rebel 
Colonel over the Works by his Coat-Collar. Hand to Hand Fighting- Death 
ofMcPherson. Logan Assumes Command. The Enemy Repulsed. Incidents 
of the Battle - - - - - * *54 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Iowa Brigade. A Bitter Struggle. Capture of the 16th Iowa Regiment. Who 
were the Captors? The Flag of the 16th Iowa Restored Twenty Years Aftei- 
ward, by the General who Captured it. - * • 167 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Logan Succeeded by Howard in the Command of the Army of the Tennessee. Bitter 
Feeling among the Troops. Sherman's Reasons. Who the Bummer Generals " 
Were, and What they Did. - - - - 174 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Hammering Away ! Another Flank March and Sharp Battle by the Army of the 
Tennessee. What Foreigners Said of the War. Trouble between Scholield and 
Palmer. Palmer Resigns. - - - - - 179 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The Old Chaplain. His Death. A Prophetic Address. How He Stood Up for " My 
Boys." A Noble Life. - - - - - - 189 

CHAPTER XX. 

Important Movements. 14 Atlanta Ours and Fairly Won! " Importance of the Victory. 
Congratulations of President Lincoln and General Grant. The " Cracker- Line " 
Reopened. Blair and Logan Go Home to Take Part in the Presidential Contest. 
Sharp Correspondence between Generals Sherman and Hood. " We Must Have 
Peace, Not Only in Atlanta, but in All America 1 " - • 195 

CHAPTER XXI. 

A Breathing-Spell. Adventures of a Union Soldier in Returning to the Front. He 
Joins the Militaiy Telegraph Corps. On t lie Track of Hood's Raid. - 207 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Hood's Raid. Union Troops at Kenesaw and Big Shanty Dispersed. Allatoona 
Attacked. A Glorious Struggle. Sherman's Message and Corse's Answer. 
The Assault Repulsed. Verses by a Soldier Poet. General Sherman's Con- 
gratulatory Order. ...... 214 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

A Family of Soldiers. A Hero at Allatoona. Patriotic Words from a Brother. The 
Soldier Father in Search of his Boy's Corpse. Meeting with General Grant. 234 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Hood Raiding the Railroad His Bloodthirsty Summons to Surrender. The Defiant 
Answer. Sherman in Pursuit. Death of General Ransom. - - 239 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Sherman about to Move Southward. Reorganization of the Army. The Presidential 
Elect ion in the Field. Orders for tlie March to the Sea. - - 245 



CONTENTS. 



11 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

A Jolly Party of Soldiers. Their Amusement Interrupted by Sherman's Orders to 
March. The Departure of the Last Railroad Train Going North. Destruction 
of the Railioad. Atlanta Burned. A Suggestive Scene. - 251 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

On the March. Personal Characteristics of the Men. Their Endurance and Self- 
Confidence. How they Sheltered and Fed Themselves. Itinerary of the 
March. - - - - - - 258 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Genesis of the Bummer Ordeis for Foraging. The "Bummer" Searching foi 
Provisions. His Politeness to Women and Affection for Children. His Efforts 
to Reach his Regiment with his Plunder. The Adventures of a Typical 
1 Bummer." A Sad Prank Played on a Staff Officer. - - 267 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

The Events of a Day. The Army at Breakfast. The Troops on the March. The 
Skirmish Line in Advance. Personal Characteristics of the Men. Wading 
through Swamps. Building Corduroy Roads. Crossing a Stream. The Army 
in 111 Humor. Their Spirits Cheered by Martial Music. - • 27S 

CHAPTER XXX. 

A Real Camp Fire. Camp Songs. A Dead Enemy and his Picture. An Anecdote of 
Lincoln. Adventure at Vicksburg. A Cipher Dispatch. ■ - 2S9 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Crossing the Ocmulgee. Friendliness and Faith Shown by the Negroes. Passage of 
the Oconee. A Newspaper in Camp Destruction of Provisions and Forage by 
the Citizens. The Army on the Point of Starvation. • - - 310 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Tearing VJp Railroad. Nearing Sa/annah. Within Sound of the Guns of the Fleet. 
A Sharp Skirmish on the Outskirts of Savannah. How a Shell Looks in Motion. 
A Severe Artillery Fire. Running Past the Enemy's Batteries. • 319 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The Troops Starving. An Elaborate Meal. Fort McAllister Taken. Arrival of 
Supplies and Mail. The Boy who did not Live to Receive his Letter. Savan- 
nah Entered. - - 327 

CHAPTER XXXTV. 

The Tioops in High Clover at Savannah. A Staff Officer Finds Pleasant Acquaint- 
ance and Comfortable Quarters. Generous Hospitality of an Enemy. H is Sad 
Death. A Genuine Poem. Alas, poor Yorick 1 - - - 337 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Army Transferred to South Carolina The Soldier on his Sea-Legs. An Uncom- 
fortable Passage. Landing at Beaufort. Floundering 111 the Mud at Poco- 
taligo. ........ 343 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Old Friends Heaul From. Letters from Gunboat Officers and Others. An Incident 
in Mississippi. 3^ 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Wading the Salkehatchie. A Health -Wrecking Experience. Death's Bowling Alley. 
Occupation of Orangeburg. Marching Through a Blazing Pine Forest. 355 

CHAPTER. XXXVIII. 

Approach to Columbia. A While Horse Draws a Warm Fire. Passage of the 
Congaree River. General Belknap's Troops First to Enter Columbia. The 
Fifteenth Corps a Trifle Too Late. The 13th Iowa Regiment Loses its Flag. 365 



12 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Experiences of a Detachment of the 32a! Illinois Regiment in Columbia. City Coun- 
cilmen Anxious to Surrender. Burning Cotton in the Streets. Escaped Pris- 
oners and Negroes Running a Muck. An Independent Skirmisher in the Tower 
of the City Hall. A Jovial Party Meet in the Senate Chamber and Repeal the 
Secession Ordinance. Curious Relics in the Arsenal. The City Fired. W. 
Gilmore Simms Reviewed. Who was Responsible ?-_••- "375 

CHAPTER XL. 

Revolutionary Battle-Grounds.' Cheraw, South Carolina. Celebration of the Re- 
Inauguration of President Lincoln. Skirmish at Fayetteville, North Carolina. 
Arrival of a Dispatch Boat. A Curious Train of Refugees and Freedmen. 
Neaiing the End. To the Rescue ! A Horrible Night March. A Sharp Skir- 
mish A Remarkable Escape. Death of a Brave Conscript. The Last 
Battle. - - - - - " 395 

CHAPTER XLI. 

A Joyous Interlude. The Worst Brass Band in the Army. A Western Gunboat 
Officer in New York. Interesting Interview with General Anderson, the Hero 
of Fort Sumter. Lee Asking Terms of Grant. A Notable Scene in Wall 
Street. -------- 409 

CHAPTER XLII. 

Beautiful Scene in Fortress Monroe Harbor. A Loyal Virginian. A Night Scene in 
the Dismal Swamp. Assassination of Lincoln. Rage of the Troops and Terror 
of the Citizens. The News Reaches the Army at Raleigh. Peace Negotiations 
between Sherman and Johnston. Fears for the Safety of Sherman. The Crape - 
Draped Sword. - - - - - -421 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

The Armies of Sherman and Johnston Confronting Each Other under Flag of Truce. 
Sudden Appearance of General Grant. Surrender of Johnston. The Terms 
Granted. Quarrel between Sherman and Stanton. - - - 428 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

Society of the Army of the Tennessee. Organized within the Sound of the Enemy's 
Guns. A Brilliant Array of Presiding Officers. General Sherman in the 
Chair. - - - - - - - - 438 

CHAPTER XLV. 

On to Washington. u Yank*' and u Johnny'' on Good Terms. Richmond and Libby 
Prison. Amusements of the Prisoners. Profane Psalm-Singing. Hanover 
Court-House and Patrick Henry. The Battle-Ground at Fredericksburg. 
Alexandria and Ellsworth. ------ 448 

CEIAPTER XLVI. 

Arrival at the National Capital. The Grand Review. Meade's Army. 'The Soldiers 
of the West. A Phantom Army. General Sherman's Farewell Order. 460 

CHAPTER XLVIL 

Homeward Bound. Troops Shipwrecked on the Ohio River, The Army Sent Home. 
General Logan's Farewell Order. - - - - - 473 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

A Supplemental Campaign. Up the Missouri River. At Fort Leavenworth. On to 
Utah ! The Overland Stage and Pony Express. A Demoralized Command. 
Remonstrances against the March. Arrival at Fort Kearney. Ordered Home 
for Muster-Out. - 470, 

CHAPTER XLIX. 
Arrival at Springfield. The Troops Discharged. A Reminiscent Picture. Vale! 487 



ILLUSTKATIONS, 



Marching through Georgia, - 


- Frontispiece. 


The First Dead, . -- = .-= 


35 


The Peach Orchard at Shiloh, 


55 


On the Skirmish Line, - 


75 


Restoring Communication, 


95 


Gen. Gresham Wounded, - 


119 


Map of Battlefield, July 22, 1S64, 


- M3 


Gen. Belknap Capturing Rebel Colonel, 


163 


A Struggle for a Flag, 


- 1S3 


Portraits of Commanding Officers, 


203 


A Demand for Surrender, - 


- 2J 9 


The Defiance, 


220 


Gen. Corse at Allatoona, 


- 223 


Union Troops Destroying Railroad, 


229 


On the March, - 


- 243 


The Bummer, - 


26l 


Making Corduroy Road, 


- 279 


A Real Camp Fire, - 


295 


Autograph Cipher Despatch, 


- 303 


A Hungry Party, 


315 


Laying Pontoons, 


z 335 


Wading the Salkehatchie, - 


363 


Before Columbia, - 


= 3S3 


Refugee Train, - 


403 


Portrait and Autograph of Gen. Andfrson, 


- 417 


Action at Bentonville, - 


429 


Halt on the March, - 


- 45i 


Portraits of Division Commanders, 


467 



Mabciiijto Through Georgia, 



CHAPTER I. 



THE DRUMMER-BOY. 



lyT was a country town in 111- 
^j|^r^ inois, on an April morning, 
nearly a quarter of- a century 
ago ; a generation now old 
enough to bear arms has grown 
up since that day. 

Following close upon the 
news of the firing on the 
flag, a public meeting had 
been held in the old brick 
church, which also served as a school house ; and a 
civil engineer, who had figured in the militia service, 
delivered a lecture on " Fortifications," sketching upon 
the blackboard the outlines of Fort Sumter, and noting 
the position of the attacking batteries, as nearly as it 
was possible to locate them by the published reports. 
Newspapers were not so enterprising then, and dia- 
grams and maps did not accompany their narratives. 
The speaker was a quiet man, and his slow and ineas- 

z 17 




Id MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

ured speech, delivered with a foreign accent, and 
abounding in technical terms understood by but a 
few, fell upon the audience with depressing effect. 
The people cared nothing for science — their hearts 
were full of sentiment. They had expected an appeal 
to their patriotism, and a leader to direct them in the 
path of service for country, but they were disappointed 
and left in uncertainty. A day or two afterward, 
President Lincoln issued his proclamation calling for 
seventy-five thousand volunteers — how immense the 
number seemed then ! — and public sentiment began 
to crystallize. 

R-r-r-r-r-r ! 

Eight merrily the Drummer-Boy rattled away, as if 
his very life depended upon the effort. His little frame 
shook with excitement, and his eye sparkled as if his 
most ardent ambition were now realized. As he plied 
the drumsticks he kepc up a running fire of remarks, 
addressed to the excited youths who stood about him, 
or in answer to questions, never losing a stroke or miss- 
ing a beat the while. 

" Yes, you bet I'm going ; an' so's Dan Messick, 
and Tom Johnson, and Watts Towse, and Johnny Rice, 
an' all the boys that's wuth shucks ! Why, we kin git 
up a whole company right here ; an' Palmer, he knows 
Lincoln, an' he kin git us them short rifles with swords 
on the end, like Major Burke brought home from Har- 



THE DRUMMER - BOY. 



19 



per's Ferry. An' bein' volunteers, we kin drill as we 
please, and 'lect our own officers, and 't ain't like reg'ler 
soldierin' at all. Why, I seen Ellsworth's Zoo-zoos 
drill last summer, and you kin bet they do it nice ! 
That's the kind of drill we want ! And 't won't take so 
long to learn it, 'cause most of the boys was in the 
marching companies 'fore 'lection, and they got so's 
they could march good enough for anything, and they 
handled their torchsticks first-rate, but I reckon there's 
some difference between them and guns. But all you 
boys come up to the court-house to-night, and Palmer' 11 
tell us all about it ! " 

God bless the little Drummer-Boy ! The favorite 
design for soldiers' monuments throughout the coun- 
try, seems to be the figure of the perfect soldier, fully 
armed and equipped, his whole bearing bespeaking 
the hardy veteran of many hard-fought battles and 
wearisome campaigns. More suggestive, and more 
completely typical of the aroused patriotism and enthu- 
siasm of a people, and of their capability for putting 
sentiment into action, would be that of the Drummer- 
Boy. 

When the flag was assailed, and all that it repre- 
sents was put in jeopardy, the inspiring rat-a-tat- tat of 
his drum was heard in every village and at every cross- 
road ; and the young farmers from the fields, the 
apprentices from the shops, and the lads from the 
school-houses, fell in behind him and marched into 



20 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



camp. He was the youngest and smallest of them all, 
but for the time he was the most conspicuous. His 
own rank was not high, but all rank sprang from him. 
It took one hundred men to make a captain, a thousand 
to make a colonel, and five thousand to make a gen- 
eral ; but the Drummer-Boy made them all. 

In camp he had it all his own way, and he made the 
most of his opportunities. He began at five o'clock in 
the morning, and the men were obliged to obey the 
call, and appear in line in various stages of dress and 
undress, to respond to roll-call. Then he dragged 
them out to the wearisome guard-mounting, and later 
marked time for them at squad drill, company drill 
and battalion drill. Towards evening he summoned 
them to the color-line for dress-parade, a perfunc- 
tory ceremonial regarded with great contempt by 
volunteers, as an amusement which should be left 
entirely to holiday soldiers. At -nightfall he inter- 
rupted the seductive game of euchre, and dispersed 
the gathering at the deceptive chuck-a-luck table, call- 
ing the men to their quarters to answer to another 
roll-call. Then, perhaps, in the middle of the night, 
when all were wrapped in slumber, dreaming sweet 
dreams of home, which they called, but not irrev- 
erently, " God's Country," he would beat the long 
roll, and bring them out into the darkness and storm, 
sometimes to meet the enemy, but more frequently to 
resist a charge of stampeded mules from the wagon 



THE DRUMMER - BOY. 



21 



train. In all these persecutions lie had firm allies in 
the captain and colonel, who would put on extra duty, 
or buck and gag, any who failed to respond to all 
these irksome calls. 

But there were occasions when the Drummer-Boy 
performed a service in wdiich all honored him. What 
comrade does not remember the long marches, when 
the soldier, overloaded with gun, knapsack, and what 
all, with rations scant and water scarce, trudged along 
the dreary road, until the limbs were weary and the 
spirit broken ; disgusted with the service, with his com- 
rade and with himself; cursing the." Confederacy " and 
his own government in one and the same breath. Then 
it was that the Drummer-Boy, as weary and worn as 
the soldier in the ranks, tightened up his snares, put 
energy into his little tired frame, and rattled merrily 
away. How the sound stirred the sluggish blood in 
every vein ! How it braced up every muscle ! What a 
mighty shout went up from the lips of the men, and 
with what hearty determination did they push forward 
on their way! 

Then how all missed him during the long months 
from Chattanooga to Atlanta, when the army was con- 
stantly in action, or seeking unsuspected points of 
advantage by swift and secretive marches, and he was 
forbidden to play lest his drum should give informa- 
tion to the enemy, and attract too much of their atten- 
tion. And when the end of the campaign came at last, 



22 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



and Sherman told the anxious friends at home, 
" Atlanta is ours, and fairly won!" and the drums and 
fifes and brass bands again broke the dreary stillness 
with their exultant strains, how all voices rose and 
swelled, and drowned out all other sounds! And 
again, when the men had exhausted themselves with 
shouting, how glorious was the harmony of martial 
music to their ears! What would have been the 
victory without it? 

Recall that magnificent panorama in May of 1865, 
when, at the close of the war, two hundred thousand 
men of the Army of the Union marched in triumphal 
procession down Pennsylvania avenue, in the national 
capital. "What would this have been without the 
drummer ? A grand pantomime — a pageant with- 
out a soul — a picture without color — a flash of light- 
ning without the thunder peal. It might have awak- 
ened admiration, but never enthusiasm. It might 
have dazzled the eye, but it could never have fired the 
heart. 

Nor was the Drummer-Boy merely a musician. He 
was a soldier as well. Technically known as a non- 
combatant, he was seldom elsewhere than at the front; 
and he has given up his life, musket in hand, in the 
line of battle, or in the act of giving water to a wounded 
comrade under fire. 

But what has been his reward? 

Nearly a quarter of a century has gone by since 



THE DRUMMER - BOY. 



23 



the vast Army of the Union sprang into being. A 
generation has grown up since it fulfilled its mission, 
and its returning heroes resumed the garb and duties 
of every-day life. Year by year, old soldiers have 
been wont to assemble to renew the friendships of 
years agone. These gatherings have been prolific of 
orators, and at each meeting eloquent addresses have 
been made by speakers of all grades, from that of 
Major General up to High Private — the latter rank 
higher now, because, alas ! there are so few of them ! — 
telling of scenes of battle and victory and death. The 
exploits of all arms of the service, infantry, cavalry 
and artillery, have been dwelt upon; and there have 
been many descriptions of the achievements of some 
individual command, to whose particular effort the 
successful issue of the war has been shown to be due. 
The mothers, wives, sisters and sweethearts of the 
soldiers, have been lovingly remembered and grate- 
fully eulogized for sending to their dear ones at the 
front the delicacies they so often failed to receive 
— no fault of the fair donors, God bless them ! The 
chaplains have received due recognition for lifting up 
the voice of supplication on the right side of the ques- 
tion, and interpreting scripture to the confounding of 
the enemy. Sometimes a quartermaster has distin- 
guished himself by coming to the front — he was not 
often credited with such performances in war-days 
— in vindication of his own calling, and to whitewash 



24 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the character of that much misunderstood branch of 
the service, the government mule. Occasionally a 
sutler steps forward and lays claim to a little cheap 
credit — a commodity for which he charged the boys 
very high, when in the heyday of his glory ; and in 
one instance an army surgeon has even been known to 
lay claim to honor for valuable assistance in putting 
down the rebellion, by putting down the throats of the 
soldiers a great deal of quinine mixed with a very little 
whisky (the panacea for every ill in the early days), 
and furnishing them unlimited quantities of blue oint- 
ment. 

But amid all this jubilation, the most significant 
figure of war-days has been overlooked — the Drum- 
mer-Boy, the real recruiting sergeant for the Armies 
of the Union! 



THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER. 



25 



CHAPTER II 




THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER. 



OOK here, sonny 



well go right back home ! 



You'd just as 
Uncle 

Sam wants soldiers, he does, and 
has no use for boys ! The 
mustering officer says recruits 




must be eighteen years 
old, five feet four inches 
high, weigh at least one 
hundred and twenty - five 
pounds, and be free from 
all physical defect. You are only seventeen; you are 
two inches too short, and you don't weigh enough by 
thirty pounds. Even if you were mustered in, you 
couldn't carry a knapsack, and your gun would be so 
long that you couldn't load it. You take good advice. 
Go home on the first train, sonny, and let men attend 
to this business! " 

The speaker was the elder of a number of young 
men sitting on the bank of Clear Lake, near Spring- 
field, Illinois. They had followed the Drummer-Boy 
into camp from the town before mentioned, and not yet 



26 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



having been received, into the service, were still clad in 
the garb they had brought from home. The majority 
were young farmers ; the speaker whose dogmatic utter- 
ance is quoted, was a school teacher, and the one he 
addressed so contemptuously was an undersized lad 
who had but lately been promoted from the position of 
printer's " devil " to that of compositor at the case. 

About these men, gathered school, workshop and 
farm companions, until the requisite number for a 
company was made up, and all were presented to the 
medical officer for examination. Every man was 
intensely patriotic, and it was with much misgiving 
that he stripped himself, opened his mouth to show his 
teeth, and passed under the measuring standard, fear- 
ing lest he should be rejected and sent home, there to 
become the scorn and laughing-stock of his neighbors. 
All but two passed the dreaded ordeal successfully, and 
the company was mustered into the service of the 
United States. Amono- the successful candidates was 
the printer-boy, but to preserve the truth of history it 
is necessary to explain that he was obliged to muster 
in as a musician, the regulations for the enlistment of 
such being less prescriptive than for the ranks. This, 
however, was by private arrangement with the colonel; 
and a few days afterward, the lad, who had never 
handled either drum or fife, was, at his own request, 
"reduced to the ranks," and took his place in the line, 



THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER. 



27 



at the tail-end of his company, the shortest man 
therein, or in the regiment, for that matter. 

Nov/ the education of the soldier began. As a sen- 
tinel on camp-guard he was armed with a club, there 
being a scarcity of arms ; and so solemnly was he 
impressed with the importance of his duties, and the 
penalty for any sin of omission, that when, as occasion- 
ally happened, he went to sleep on post, he felt as 
one risen from the dead, upon learning that he was 
not to be shot this time, but merely put in the 
guard-house, or bucked and gagged. He was carefully 
instructed in the salutes due to officers, and so reli- 
giously did he endeavor to discharge these important 
requirements, that on one occasion, when corporal of 
the guard, he turned out his entire force to present 
arms to a hospital steward, whose gaudy chevrons he, 
in his ignorance, took to be at least the insignia of a 
brigadier-general. He was drilled from the rising of 
the sun to the going down of the same, and when he 
moved himself clumsily he was relegated to the " awk- 
ward squad." This, perhaps, was in charge of a cor- 
poral who, at home, had been a green farm boy, and the 
butt of his boyish pranks ; and when he resented what 
he conceived to be the overbearing conduct of this 
petty officer, clothed with a little, so little, brief author- 
ity, and expressed himself, in language disallowed by 
polite society, and forbidden by the "articles of war," 
he learned how vast a difference had been built up 



28 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



between tlie two by a pair of worsted stripes. Perhaps 
tlie lesson was a difficult one to master, and the young 
soldier revolved it in his mind for a couple of days 
while engaged in the pleasant recreation of grubbing 
out an immense stump, with a guard standing over 
him, armed with musket and bayonet. At another 
time he would be tempted to mutiny and desertion, 
when, being detailed for " fatigue," he found that 
duty to be cleaning up in front of the tent of the 
captain, who, at home, was a carpenter or painter. 

At a later day he struggled with the dreadful task of 
crowding into his knapsack a supply of clothing, and a 
general assortment of notions, almost sufficient to stock 
a cross-roads store. There were an extra pair of pants ; 
two changes of under-clothing ; several pairs of home- 
made socks ; a " house-wife " with its wealth of pins, 
needles, thread and buttons, put up by sister ; a Bible 
from his mother ; a portfolio with writing material ; a 
bottle of extract of ginger, or cholera cure, for use in 
case water proved to be unwholesome ; a water-filter ; 
a patriotic song -book, and a " Manual for the Soldier;" 
a box of collars and a couple of cravats ; and finally, a 
" boiled shirt" or two. Then, more awful mystery yet, 
came the packing of the great-coat to the upper outside 
of the knapsack. To roll it so that it could be kept 
within reasonable compass, and not exceed the capacity 
of the straps which were to confine it, was an accom- 
plishment but few mastered. However, it was not 



THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER. 



29 



long before the poor fellow learned that lie had no 
use for such an assortment of goods, or, at any rate,* 
had not the disposition to transport them. So, little 
by little, the great packs were reduced ; the owner 
gazing ruefully upon the treasures with which he 
parted so reluctantly from time to time. 

Then the soldier was overjoyed when the time 
came to draw arms. Heretofore there were in the 
camp but a few old-fashioned flint-lock muskets of 
the time of the Mexican war. These had been com- 
mitted to the care of a few smart fellows who were 
members of militia companies before the war, and who, 
as " drill-masters," now displayed their dexterity in the 
manual of arms and bayonet drill, before gaping crowds 
of unarmed warriors on the parade-ground. But now 
the recruit had a gun of his own, and was at last a full- 
fledged soldier. It little mattered that the weapon was 
a clumsy old " Belgian," thrown away as useless by its 
petty crowned owner in Europe ; or an old govern- 
ment musket altered from a flint-lock ; it was a gun, 
and the soldier asked no questions. He learned to 
curse it before long, however, for he found that its 
destructive power was rather in his own direction than 
in that of the enemy. 

The recruit was now completely armed and 
equipped, and he was ordered to take his place in 
the ranks for inspection and review, It was one of 



30 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the hottest clays of midsummer, and, what with the 
*heat and the paraphernalia he carried, comprising all 
the weapons and supplies drawn from the ordnance 
officer and quartermaster, the ordeal was a severe one. 
He was marched in column, by platoon and com- 
pany front, at common rime, quick time, and double 
quick. Finally, the pace was increased to a run, 
which continued for nearly an hour, and the recruit, 
all but exhausted, put forth his best efforts, fearing 
that in case he failed in this final test, he would be 
ignominiously discharged from service. 

Perhaps the most astounding revelation of all to 
the young soldier was the fact that he was actually to 
be paid for his services. Never to be forgotten is the 
day when it was first announced that a real paymaster 
would come into camp and count out to each man 
twenty-two dollars for two months' time. In his 
ignorance and patriotic zeal, the recruit had never 
anticipated anything of this nature. To serve his 
country was his sole ambition, and the approval of his 
own conscience, and the plaudits of hir> friends, would 
be an all-satisfying reward. When he had been actu- 
ally paid, he looked upon his money as something to 
be gotten rid of as speedily as possible ; he felt that to 
hoard it would be to give opportunity for reflections 
upon his patriotism, Hence he at once sought out the 
sutler, and soon exhausted his little fortune, paying a 



THE SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER. SI 

dollar for a can of blackberries, twenty-five cents for a 
very ordinary cranberry-pie, and for other articles at 
the same rate. Thereafter he was frequently in debt 
to this despoiler, and pay-day never again came often 
enough. 



32 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 




CHAPTEE m. 

THE FIRST DEAD. 

HOETLT after the cap- 
p ture of Fort Henry, 
General Grant ordered 
a reconnaissance up 
the Tennessee river, 
to develop the ene- 
my's new line. The 
^^^^^^^LjM^^j wooden gunboats "Tyler" 
and "Lexington" were dis- 
patched for this duty, and upon 
the former was embarked the 
S ^~ company referred to in the preceding 
chapter, while a companion company from the same 
regiment took passage on the latter. 

It was a pleasurable excursion for men long accus- 
tomed to the irksome routine of camp duties, and 
wearisome marchings through swamps and brakes. 
The skies were bright, the atmosphere clear and 

invigorating. The shore on either side was putting 

« 

on the verdant beauty of field and wood; and the 
fresh spring breezes were laden with the odors of 




THE FIRST DEAD. 



33 



fragrant flower and shrub. It was in the last days of 
February, and the surroundings were novel to those 
accustomed to the bleak winters of an Illinois prairie : 
so that, in spite of their loyalty to their own loved 
home, and their determination to see nothing admir- 
able in Dixie, their spirits broke out with joyous exu- 
berance, while their patriotism was stimulated by the 
cheers and benedictions of those, native to the soil, 
who flocked to the river's edge to look upon the flag 
of their country. A pathetic poem was printed in 
Harper s Weekly shortly afterward, depicting such a 
scene : 

******** 

11 And the south wind fondly lingers 

'Mid the veteran's silvery hair; 
Still the bondsman, close beside him, 

Stands behind the old arm-chair, 
With his dark hued hand uplifted, 

Shading eyes, he bends to see 
Where the woodland, boldly jutting, 

Turns aside the Tennessee. 

14 Thus he watches cloud-born shadows 

Glide from tree to mountain crest, 
Softly creeping, aye and ever, 

To the river's yielding breast. 
Ha! above the foliage yonder, 

Something flutters, wild and free! 
'Massa! Massa! Hallelujah! 

The flag's come back to Tennessee! ' 99 

******** 

Among those who came to the river's bank to greet 
the flag, were many young men seeking to escape the 
3 



34 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



neighborhood sentiment, or practical conscription, 
which sought to drive them into the service of the 
" Confederacy." Several of these enlisted in Company 
"C"; and in one instance sixty patriotic young Ten- 
nesseeans, clad in their native butternut garb, and 
armed with their sporting shot-guns and rifles, came 
in a body, and were mustered into the national army. 

The days passed merrily away, and where all were 
in the happiest mood, Dan Messick, orderly sergeant 
of Company " C," was the happiest and merriest of all. 
A compactly built young man of about nineteen years, 
with a full round face, and an eye which twinkled with 
humor, or if necessary flashed in command, he was one 
whom his comrades not only respected, but loved. But 
his career, begun with so much promise, was soon 
brought to a mournful end. 

The vessels steamed up river, at times slowing 
their speed in order to examine the shores at points 
where an enemy might lurk. At Clifton they stopped 
to load a transport with wheat and flour from a mill 
operated for the Confederate army ; and at Chickasaw 
Bluffs a midnight sally was made upon a party of rebel 
officers, who were merry-making at a farm-house near 
the river, and they were brought away as prisoners. 

Having passed Savannah, the heights just north of 
Pittsburg Landing came into view about ten o'clock 
on the morning of March 1st. The troops were not 
aware that the commander of the gunboat had been 



THE FIBST DEAD. 37 

informed by well-disposed citizens that the enemy was 
engaged in fortifying this position, with a view to again 
closing the stream so recently opened by the downfall 
of Fort Henry ; and as field-glasses were not included 
in the equipment of private soldiers, they detected 
nothing suspicious. A few minutes later they had 
cause for wonderment when the engines slowed down, 
the wheels revolving just sufficiently to hold the vessel 
nearly motionless against the current. At the same 
moment the commander of the gunboat, Lieutenant- 
Commander Gwin, in complete uniform, with his 
sword by his side, appeared upon the bridge. His 
glass was fixed intently upon the heights, as if he 
expected trouble, and every eye followed the direction 
of his gaze, but without being any the wiser. 

Presently a puff of smoke rose from the heights, 
then a heavy ball flew over the " Tyler " and splashed 
the water astern. The gunboat at once opened with 
her heaviest guns, 68-pounclers, which were in her bow, 
firing shell at first, then grape-shot, steaming mean- 
while nearer the battery. The "Lexington," some- 
what farther down stream, opened fire a few minutes 
later. The enemy answered briskly, but without 
effect, for a short time, and then abandoned their guns. 

Pittsburg Landing, which had been concealed 
behind the heavily wooded bluffs, now came into view, 
a mere landing place for steamboats, with a log-house 
upon the summit of the short and rather steep hill 



38 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



which rose from the water's edge. Infantry and 
cavalry were in sight. The latter were stampeded by 
a few well directed shots from a 24-pounder howitzer 
upon the "Tyler's" upper deck; but the infantry con- 
tinued to deliver an effective fire, crippling three gun- 
ners, and leaving upon the vessel's sides, pilot-house 
and chimneys, marks which she bore to the close of the 
war. 

The gunboats were well abreast of the landing, 
maintaining only sufficient headway to resist the cur- 
rent. Meanwhile, Messick counted off fifteen files 
from the right of Company " C," and they were ordered 
into the yawls, which by this time had been lowered to 
the water. Under cover of the fire of the gunboats, 
and of the muskets of the soldiers left aboard, the 
boats pushed off to the shore. The first to spring to 
land was Messick. A portion of Company " K," from 
the "Lexington," joined the party, and all advanced up 
the hill, the gunboats meanwhile being necessarily 
silent. Then the little bancl^ not fifty men in all, 
reached the summit, and the enemy, occupying the 
timber which fringed the clearing on all but the 
river side, opened a fierce fire, which was handsomely 
returned. "Load as quick as you can, and give them 
the devil!" yelled the captain, himself a native Ten- 
nesseean, and the boys dashed past the log-house 
toward the timber, which secreted the enemy, firing as 
they went The captain was partially disabled by a 



THE FIRST DEAD, 



39 



bullet in his leg-, but continued in command. Seeing 
the folly of rushing upon a superior force, so well 
posted, he ordered the men to fall back to the log- 
house, from whose windows, and the spaces between 
the logs, a fire could be maintained without great 
exposure. Messick was some paces in advance of the 
house, and presented a most conspicuous mark. He 
wore his first sergeant's bright red sash, not around 
his waist, as was usual, but over the shoulder and 
across the breast, after the fashion of an officer-of-tlie- 
day. He was seen to load his piece, take deliberate 
aim and fire, and then turn partially about to reload, 
when a ball struck him in the head, and he fell at full 
length, dead. An effort was made by some of the men 
to reach the body and drag it behind the house, but 
the enemy's fire was too fierce to permit it. At this 
moment it was discovered that the enemy's cavalry, 
taking advantage of the silence of the gunboats, were 
endeavoring to interpose between the little detachment 
and the landing, and a retreat was ordered. One of 
the men, while on the way to the boats, managed to 
pick up a new Enfield rifle, lost by the enemy, a rare 
weapon in those early days, when the Union troops 
could boast nothing better than the old altered flint- 
lock firing " buck and ball.*" Another made the 
possession of a snare drum inscribed with the words, 
" Captured from the Yankees at Manassas." A third, 
descending the hill in great haste, unfortunately thrust 



40 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the point of his gun into the ground, and found him- 
self propelled into the river, with no other injury than 
a thorough ducking. As the soldiers pulled off in 
their boats, the enemy followed them to the brow of 
the hill and poured down a fierce fire, to which the 
gunboats and troops aboard made hot reply. 

March 2d and 3d. the gunboats, with the troops yet 
on board, passed and repassed the landing repeatedly, 
firing shell at intervals, but eliciting no reply. On the 
4th, an officer and a party of soldiers landed under a 
flag of truce. They found that the enemy had with- 
drawn the guns from the earthworks commanding the 
river, and retired toward Corinth. 

This was the first chapter of the campaign culmi- 
nating in the fall of Corinth. The expedition had 
been eminently successful. It had prevented the 
fortifying of the bluffs at Pittsburg Landing, the most 
formidable defensive point on the river. Ten days 
later, General Grant's army arrived and made an 
unmolested landing. 

March 15th, Company " C " found eighteen graves 
to certify to the skirmish fought two weeks earlier. 
The burials had been made so hastily that the toes of 
the dead protruded through the ground. Seventeen of 
the bodies were those of the enemy, the other was that 
of Messick. A sorrowful moment it was for the little 
company, mostly beardless youths, as they stood 
around the grave of their first dead, one whom they 



THE FIRST DEAD. 



41 



had loved so well, and for whose future they had cher- 
ished such lofty anticipations. He was a gallant 
soldier and a true comrade, born to command, with a 
spirit of dash and enthusiasm which inspired his fel- 
lows, and a boyish warm-heartedness which won the 
love and confidence of all. He was one who may be 
held up as a fit type of the American Volunteer whose 
shadowy image is honored and mourned in so many 
homes ; and this weak tribute to his memory may be 
justly dedicated to the aged parents throughout the 
land, whose lives have never ceased to be embittered 
from such a death: 

41 The old man desolate, 
Weeping and wailing sore 
For his son who is no more!" 



42 



MARCHING- THROUGH GEORGIA. 



WB^Ii^^ better nor worse than any 
?:^^^^il£^ :r one of a thousand others, 



CHAPTEE IV. 

THE GROWTH OF A EEGIMENT. 



HE company mentioned in the 
^'' r M^<4--C^ preceding chapter was part 
of a regiment which, in after 
days of battle and march, 
''^r acquitted itself neither 

J\ r ; - drawn from the various States of 

^fy ^ the loyal North 

At the beginning, the regiment regarded itself as a 
most formidable organization, equal to almost any 
undertaking. If so required, it would undoubtedly 
have essayed the invasion of the seceded States, alone 
and unaided. But its colonel, who had held a subal- 
tern's position in the Black-Hawk affair, which by a 
poetic license had been dignified with the title of 
"War," determined to make his command abso- 
lutely invincible ; and he secured from the War 
Department special authority to recruit and add to it 
a battery of artillery, and a company of cavalry. These 



THE GKOWTH OF A REGIMENT. 43 

were secured, and, in the light of a later experience, it 
is comical to look back at that complex regiment on 
parade, with its ten companies of infantry, and artil- 
lery and cavalry on either flank, all making vain 
endeavors to obey the commands laid down in the 
blue-book for one arm of the service alone. The 
absurdity of the combination was soon apparent, and 
before entering upon active service the organization 
was broken up, the cavalry and artillery being sent to 
join appropriate bodies of their own kind, and the in- 
fantry put upon proper footing as an actual regiment. 

The regiment lay at Bird's Point, Missouri, oppo- 
site Cairo, Illinois, during part of the winter of 
1861-2. It was one of the few comprising General 
Grant's little Army of the Tennessee in the beginning, 
the force being divided between Cairo, Bird's Point, 
Missouri, and Fort Holt, Kentucky. Headquarters 
were at the first-named place, from which, before the 
coming of General Grant, emanated military orders 
with the somewhat pompous preamble, "Headquarters, 
Grand Cairo and Dependencies." 

At a later day the regiment assisted in the invest- 
ment of Fort Henry, and a portion of it took an unim- 
portant and almost bloodless part at Fort Donelson, 
while other detachments made expeditions into the inte- 
rior and up the Tennessee river. 

Then came the ascent of the Tennessee river, 
already opened up by the engagement described in 



44 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the foregoing chapter. This was one of the finest 
pageants of the war. The thirty-five thousand men 
comprising the army of invasion were embarked upon 
sixty transports, led by the gunboats. The fleet dis- 
played bunting in profusion ; and with many of the 
regiments were brass bands, whose music echoed from 
shore to shore. Several of the boats were provided 
with calliopes, and their patriotic melodies, softened 
by distance, sounded enchantingly. As far as the eye 
could reach, up stream and down, rounding bends and 
threading their way among miniature islands, the long 
line of vessels stretched away, a magnificent panorama 
ever in motion. 

March 16th. General Sherman's division disem- 
barked at Pittsburg Landing, followed the next day 
by General Hurlbut's. The regiment of which this 
narrative treats, was a part of the latter command. 
Original journal entries show that camp discipline was 
rigidly enforced. Company and battalion drills and 
dress-parades were invariably performed each day. 
There was reason enough for this, not only in a mili- 
tary sense, but for the moral effect. Illness increased 
rapidly among the troops, caused by unwholesome 
water. For nearly all complaints the surgeons had one 
sovereign panacea, whisky and quinine, prepared at the 
hospital tent by the barrelful, and administered with a 
tin cup. Unfortunately for those who had a taste for 



THE GROWTH OF A BEGIMENT. 



45 



the liquor, it was so unsparingly drugged that its use 
as a beverage was impossible. 

March 29th, a new camp was laid out, one mile far- 
ther south. Camp-guards surrounded each regiment, 
and a picket was posted, but no works constructed. 
On the 31st, General Hurlbut reviewed his division 
for the first time, preparatory to a review by General 
Grant on April 2d. April 4th, a heavy rain began to 
fall, continuing all night and part of the 5th. About 
eight o'clock on the night of the former day, scattering 
firing was heard to the front, and the regiment, with 
others, was sent in that direction. A march of five 
miles was made, and the troops were ordered back to 
camp without encountering an enemy or learning 
the cause of the alarm. This w r as two days before the 
battle of Shiloh, and rebel prisoners taken in that 
engagement said that the Union forces that night 
marched inside their lines, and might have been cap- 
tured, but for fear of causing an alarm. 

Sunday morning, April Cth, a beautiful spring day, 
the troops were preparing breakfast, when sounds of 
conflict came froni the right front. The battle of 
Shiloh had begun ! 

A few moments later, the long roll sounded, and 
the troops went into ranks on their color-line, and soon 
marched in the direction of the firing. At the side 
of the road they passed Colonel Pugh, of the 41st 
Illinois regiment, a gallant old white-haired man who 



46 



MAKCHING THKOUGH GEOKGIA.' 



had seen service in Mexico. There was a remarkable 
squeak in his voice, and no one who heard his words 
that morning will ever forget their forceful meaning or 
peculiar intonation: "Boys! fill your canteens! 
Some of you '11 be in hell before night, and need 
water ! " 

Farther up the road, the troops meet the stragglers 
from the front, some wounded, and all terror-stricken. 
Brave encouragement they give to men going into 
battle : "It's no use, boys ! We 're all cut to 
pieces ! " 

On presses the column. At a turn in the road it 
changes direction to the right. In a fence-corner the 
surgeons have established their field hospital, and here 
are spread out their operating tables, and a glittering 
array of knives and saws, exposed to the sight of raw 
troops. It is horribly suggestive. No wonder many 
turn pale, or that the lad, who at home was an innocent 
Sabbath-school scholar, should take from his pocket a 
pack of playing cards and throw them away. He has 
perhaps a superstitious feeling that such property may 
bring him ill luck ; besides, if he is to be killed, he 
does not care to have his mother hear that he has fallen 
into habits she would not countenance. 

Here is a gap in the rail-fence, and the column 
passes through, and forms in line of battle in an orchard 
of young peach trees. Other regiments connect with 
it, right and left. A battery of artillery gallops up on 



THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 



47 



either flank and unlimbers. That on the left opens fire 
with great vigor upon the enemy, now plainly in sight : 
that on the right stampedes without firing a gun — the 
cannoneers cut the traces, mount their horses, and 
gallop wildly to the rear. 

In front, and on the extreme edge of a field which 
lies beyond the orchard, is a dense forest, occupied by 
the enemy. The troops march bravely toward it. The 
colonel sees that he is not strong enough to carry the 
position, and he orders "About face." The men march 
rearward in line of battle. Here and there the line 
bulges; the men are gradually quickening their pace; 
there is every provocation for a stampede. The 
commander orders " Steady ! " and the gallant fellows 
set their teeth hard, and, with muskets at shoulder, 
regain the accustomed drill step. " Battalion, halt ! 
About face ! Lie down, and no firing without orders! " 
The regiment has not fired a gun, but it has received 
severe punishment. Its retrograde movement, under 
fire, is a magnificent exhibition of pluck for raw 
troops. 

The enemy's batteries have now opened. They fire 
solid shot, which strike the ground a couple of hun- 
dred yards in advance, and reach the troops in ricochet- 
ting. Admirable range the gray-coated artillerists 
have ! A small tree near by, not thicker than a stove- 
pipe, is bruised with the marks of five cannon-balls 
within the height of a man. A cannon shot knocks out 



48 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

the corner-post of a shed, letting fall the roof, and 
with it & squad of venturesome fellows who have 
climbed up to witness the panorama in front. Now 
the enemy fires shell and grape-shot. One of the 
iron missiles tears a cruel groove in the skull of 
a color-guard. Another knocks off the muzzle of a 
lad's gun as he is capping it for another shot. He 
completes the operation, and discharges his weapon, 
but when he brings it again to his side, he finds that 
he can not squeeze his cartridge-ball into the ragged 
muzzle. " Don't that beat the devil ! " is his exclama- 
tion to his commander. The next moment he has 
another gun, which has been thrown away by a com- 
rade, who flees in mortal terror, only to die in two 
days, not from a hurt, but from simple fright ! 

Now out of the forest in front marches the gray line 
of battle. On it comes, without a break in its ranks. 
The Union troops open upon it a terrific fire, each man 
loading and discharging his gun as rapidly as possible. 
The gray line cannot withstand the storm of leaden 
hail — it loses its pace, halts, and then recoils. Three 
times it attempts to pass over that dreadful field of 
death, and as often does it fall to pieces, and hasten 
back to shelter in broken fragments. More than a 
score of years afterward a rebel captain who was in 
the charge confessed to a soldier who opposed him 
that day, that the slaughter in the peach-orchard was 



THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 



49 



the most horrible action in which he was engaged 
during the entire war. 

Onr regiment is now shifted to the left of the Co- 
rinth road, and engages the enemy at short pistol- 
range. The ground is broken and densely wooded — it 
is not far from the famous " Hornets' Nest." The fire 
on either side is horrible. The thick underbrush is 
literally mowed down by bullets. Men are shot in 
half-a-dozen places at once. The dead lie where they 
fall; the wounded drag themselves below the brow of 
the hill for protection from further harm. The ammu- 
nition is nearly exhausted. Where are the field-boxes 
of cartridges ? Fatal blunder ! there are none where 
they are most sorely needed. Here and there the sol- 
diers drop behind the hill and take from the cartridge- 
boxes of the dead and wounded what ammunition is 
left, and resume their places in the line, only to. 
repeat the act, again and again. So intent are they 
upon their errand, that one lad does not recognize the 
close friend and comrade whom he despoils. Twenty 
years afterward the two meet to talk of the battle, and 
the former learns, for the first time, whose form it was 
he bent over in that hour of desperate effort. 

This is the key to the position of the Union army, 
and here the enemy makes his most heroic effort. A 
Tennessee brigade is broken under the terrible fire it 
encounters; one of its regiments rallies and advances 
three times, only to fall back again and again. Har- 
4 



50 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



ris, tlie Governor of Tennessee, appeals to his troops 
to make a final effort, and save the fair name of their 
State. General Albert Sidney Johnston, the idol of 
the Confederates, now places himself at their head — 
leads them to the assault, and is mortally wounded* 

In this valley of death the regiment loses more than 
one-half of the men who went into action. Little won- 
der that, with a line so thinned out. in a dense wood, a 
young soldier, on his return to the front from a search 
for cartridges, thinks himself deserted, and takes his 
way to the rear. At the head of the ravine the old 
colonel hails him : " Where are you going ?" "To 
find the regiment ! " "Well, go to the front ! All 
that are left are there ! " " All right, sir ! I thought 
they were all gone ! " and the lad again goes into 
action. 

Every cartridge at last is gone ! "Fix bayonets!" 
is the command of the colonel. But the left is crushed, 
and the enemy comes with a wild, surging charge from 
that flank, firing as they advance. Every field officer 
is killed or disabled, the brave old colonel falling last 
of all, with a ball which he carries to this day. There 
is little semblance of organization now, and the men 
seek the rear as best they can. There are scores of 
regiments in the same plight, and the last hour of the 
day is given to seeking their own members, and re- 
forming, to hold the lines that night, and prepare for a 
fresh struggle on the morrow. 



THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 



51 



The troops are without either food or water, and 
their thirst is aggravated by the salty taste of the car- 
tridges they have been biting all day. Neither have 
they tents nor blankets, for the enemy has posses- 
sion of their camp. Then the rain begins to fall, and 
the men draw their gun-locks under their coat-skirts, 
and sit up against the trees, seeking to shelter them- 
selves as best they can. All night long the earth shakes 
with the concussion of the great guns on the gunboats, 
and the explosion of their shells in the enemy's lines. 
But neither army cares for a night engagement, and 
the hostile lines confront each other in comparative* 
silence. In the morning the Union troops advance 
and sweep the enemy from the field, the fresh men of 
Buell's army taking a glorious part in the victorious 
onset. 

For some days after the battle, this regiment was 
firmly of the opinion that it had sustained the fiercest of 
the enemy's assaults on that terrible Sunday; and that 
the blunder of some other troops was the cause 
of the temporary disaster. But the men soon came to 
learn the important truth, that in this, as in nearly all 
conflicts between armed men, each portion of the line 
has all it can attend to, and its best effort and most 
fearful sacrifice, are equally necessary, no more and 
no less, to a successful issue. 

The siege of Corinth followed, a most wearisome 
and exhausting campaign. General Halleck was now 



52 * MAECHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

in command, and the troops were literally worn out 
with the excessive duty put upon them. Six weeks 
were consumed in passing over the thirty miles between 
Pittsburg Landing and Corinth. At every advance, 
earthworks, strong enough for permanent fortifica- 
tions, were thrown up, with abattis in front. The disci- 
pline was more severe than ever before. No soldier 
was permitted to visit another regiment. The reveille 
sounded at five o'clock in the morning. From six to 
seven the troops were drilled at double-quick without 
arms. Squad and company drill lasted from ten to 
eleven; battalion drill from two to four; and dress- 
parade took place at four o'clock. By the casualties 
of the battle, the exposure, and labor during the 
siege, a company of ninety men, who left Illinois 
less than a year before, was reduced to twenty-three 
effectives, and this proportion probably existed through- 
out the army. 

There was constant skirmishing, but no severe ac- 
tion, during the siege of Corinth, and the city fell into 
the hands of the Union troops, May 28th. The retreat- 
ing enemy was followed a few miles, the army being 
then recalled and posted along the railroad between 
Corinth and Memphis, making frequent wearisome, and 
generally profitless, marches into Mississippi, pursuing 
or pursued. The battle of Hatchie River was an inci- 
dent of this campaign. It was fought by General 
Hurlbut's division, which intercepted the forces of 



THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT, 



53 



Price and Van Dorn, after their repulse at Corinth, in 
October, 1862. 

The efficiency of the army had been greatly improved 
by the withdrawal of the old nmskets. For these were 
substituted Enfield and Springfield rifled muskets, both 
admirable weapons. About the same time the com- 
plete " regulation " uniform was issued. This con- 
sisted of a ridiculous dress-coat of dark blue, with 
brass shoulder-scales ; a tall, stiff felt hat, looped up on 
one side with a brass eagle, while in front was dis- 
played a brass bugle. A feather and heavy blue cord 
completed the head-dress. The men had a great con- 
tempt for this assortment of military millinery, and 
exhibited a remarkable faculty for losing ail the 
ornaments, which were not readily replaced; the hat 
crown they persisted in turning down to about one- 
third its normal height. The officers finally recognized 
the impossibility of maintaining such a uniform, and 
the troops soon took up with the comfortable blouse 
and fatigue cap, which were their distinguishing marks 
during the later years of the war. 

During the inarches in Tennessee and Mississippi, 
m the summer of 18(32, large numbers of negroes 
flocked to the army. The Emancipation Proclamation 
had not yet been penned, and all these poor people 
were driven back to their masters, save a few able- 
bodied men (sixty to a regiment), whose use was 
permitted as teamsters and cooks. The slaves 



54 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



imagined that the coming of this army meant their 
liberation from bondage. Men, women and children 
followed the troops for miles, carrying knapsacks 
and bringing water for the weary soldiers. Their dis- 
tress on being repulsed was pitiful to behold. At this 
time foraging was strictly forbidden, and severe 
punishment awaited the hungry soldier who entered 
a field for potatoes, or shot a pig. It was the day of 
the " rose-water war policy," so mercilessly ridiculed 
by Orpheus C. Kerr. 

In September, 1862, the first great blow was 
struck against slavery, and the discipline of the 
army was put to its crucial test. President Lincoln 
had issued his cautionary proclamation, setting forth 
that, on the first day of January following, in the event 
of still existing rebellion, he would proclaim the free- 
dom of the slaves. The majority of the troops were 
not in sympathy with this measure, and there was 
every prospect of wide-spread desertion. In many 
instances commissioned officers did not attempt to con- 
ceal from the men their own opposition, and expressed 
the intention of resigning. In this crisis, Colonel 
Logan, of the 32nd Illinois regiment, took a decided 
stand. He caused the proclamation to be read at 
the head of his command, and said that any officer 
tendering his resignation for this reason, or expressing 
disaffection, would be reported, with a recommenda- 
tion for his dishonorable dismissal for insubordina- 



THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 



57 



tion and disloyalty. The effect of this determined 
action was most salutary. Not a resignation was 
offered, and the brewing storm passed away. Other 
commanders were equally patriotic, many in spite of 
personal convictions ; there was no further open dis- 
affection in the army. 

In the winter, occurred the march through Missis- 
sippi, the intention being to reach the rear of Vicks- 
burg. The campaign was brought to an abrupt close 
by the disaster at Holly Springs. That important sup- 
ply depot was yielded to the enemy, by its commander, 
without firing a shot. 

A few months later, the regiment was a part of 
the army engaged in the operations against Vicksburg, 
being under fire almost daily for three months. The 
incidents of the siege would require a volume in 
themselves. The bombardment at night by the gun- 
boats and mortars was indescribably grand. The 
labors of the army were arduous, but there was less 
work with the spade than at Corinth. The troops 
learned that slighter works were sufficient protection, 
and they husbanded their strength for the skirmish 
line. The Union army made some advance almost 
every night, and frequent dashes by day. The end 
came, July 4th, 1863, when the enemy displayed the 
signal of surrender. It was not long before the 
♦ national colors w r ere unfurled from many points in the 
city ; and the fleet of gunboats steamed up to the 



58 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



wharf, each vessel firing a national salute as she 
rounded to. The next day a large part of the Army 
of the Tennessee marched out to Jackson, and de- 
feated General Joseph E. Johnston, who was threaten- 
ing the Union rear, returning afterward to Vicksburg. 

The remainder of the year was devoted to expedi- 
tions into Louisiana and the interior of Mississippi, 
which, while important in the general plans of the war, 
are not necessary to this narrative. 

Now began preparations for the campaign against 
Atlanta. The army was in magnificent trim for the 
task. True, it had lost many a gallant soldier, who, 
if living, would have done yet greater service for his 
country, and won honorable distinction for himself. 
Alas, such are the fortunes of war ! Aside from this, 
campaigning had proved a severe school, and it 
yielded admirable results. It was a most thorough 
winnowing process. The sickly and infirm had been 
retired from service ; the half-hearted had dropped 
by the wayside ; the coward and camp-bully, generally 
synonymous terms, had deserted. The company men- 
tioned in the opening chapter will serve to illustrate 
the casualties incident to these campaigns. Its ninety 
men at the outset had been reduced to thirty-five when 
the Atlanta campaign began. Anticipating the narrative, 
it may be mentioned that but twenty-six of the number 
marched out of Atlanta to the Sea. Only sixteen 
remained to the end, to be mustered out with the colors 



THE GROWTH OF A REGIMENT. 



59 



at the close of the war ; and among these was the lad 
who was bade go home, because he would never make 
a soldier. He participated in all the campaigns of 
the Army of the Tennessee, from first to last, without 
a wound, a day in hospital, or absence on sick leave. 

Such was the history of one regiment. Its ex- 
perience was not peculiar ; with little exception, it 
was that of most volunteer regiments in the field. 



60 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, 



CHAPTER V. 



THE ARMY AND ITS PERSONNEL. 




^HATTANOOGA, Tennessee, 
within the shadow of famous 
old Lookout Mountain, was 
the scene of extraordinary 
bustle and preparation dur- 
ing the month of April, 1864 
Forces were being concen- 
trated and equipped for what 
was destined to be one of the 
most brilliant and successful 
campaigns of the war, if, indeed, it did not surpass all 
others in brilliancy of conception, completeness of 
execution, and thoroughness of results. It was di- 
rected against Atlanta, and out of it grew the im- 
portant, but frolicsome, march to Savannah, and the 
campaign of the Carolinas. So closely dkl these 
events succeed one another, and so intimately blend- 
ed were their consequences, that the March to the 
Sea may be said to have begun at Chattanooga, and 
to have ended with General Joseph E. Johnston's 



THE ARMY AND ITS PERSONNEL. 



61 



surrender to General Sherman at Raleigh, North 
Carolina. These operations covered a period of 
twelve months, during which time almost every day 
was spent in marching or fighting, and frequently 
both. There were many severe battles, and at all times 
sharp skirmishing, sometimes here, sometimes there, 
and often along the entire line. But it was ever a 
grand " Forward ! " from first to last. 

The troops selected for these important undertak- 
ings were the choicest of the nation, the veterans 
of the campaigns narrated. Many of them hav- 
ing uearly completed a three years' term of service, 
re-enlisted, and were designated by the War De- 
partment as "Veteran Volunteer s," and authorized to 
wear the chevrons indicative of long and ardu- 
ous service. They were just returning from home, 
after enjoying a brief furlough, granted in con- 
sideration of their re-enlistment. Every man was a 
seasoned veteran, toughened by exposure, and taught 
self-reliance through the workings of that first law of 
nature, self-preservation. His bearing proclaimed a 
high degree of pride in his soldierly record, a con- 
scientious belief in his mission, and an unfaltering 
faith in the successful issue of his cause. He was not 
only a perfect soldier himself, but he was a school- 
master to the raw recruits brought to the front from 
time to time to replace the fallen and disabled, 
who, taught by his example, learned the full duty of 



62 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



soldiers in vastly less time than lie had acquired it, 
and became almost veterans by his side, before the 
campaign had fairly opened. 

The largest body of troops was the Army of the 
Cumberland, the heroes of Stone River and other hard 
fought fields, commanded by Major-General George 
H. Thomas, a grand soldier, whose every feature pro- 
claimed him to be as unyieldingly steadfast as the 
" Rock of Chickamauga," which name he bore. His own 
distinguishing characteristics w ere reproduced in his 
men, and their superb staying power, and capacity for 
giving and taking severe punishment, were appre- 
ciated by Sherman, who always sent them to hold an 
enemy while others sought his weak point. The Army 
of the Ohio, under Major-General Schofield, with many 
of the same traits, performed a similar mission in con- 
junction with it. Last, was the Army of the Tennessee, 
fresh from the victories of Vicksburg and Jackson, 
and the relief of the beleaguered garrison at Chatta- 
nooga — trained to long and rapid marches, swift in 
motion and as true to its mark as the arrow, which 
was the distinguishing badge of one of its corps. 
This command, as Sherman expressed it, was the 
" snapper to his whip-lash and it was thrown from 
flank to flank as necessity required, marching often by 
night to attack the enemy at an unexpected point by 
day. It was commanded by Major-General James B. 



THE ARMY AND ITS PERSONNEL. 



63 



McPherson, one of the bravest who ever wore a sword, 
though as gentle and lovable as a woman. 

Subordinate to these officers was a brilliant array of 
corps, division, and brigade commanders. Among the 
former were Logan, Blair, Dodge, Howard and Palmer ; 
among the latter, Belknap, Gresham, the Smiths, 
Leggett, Mower, Force, Phillips, Bowett and others. 
Auxiliary to these forces, and principally engaged in 
protecting provision trains and covering the flanks of 
the army, but at times making rapid and destruc- 
tive raids upon the enemy's communications, were 
large bodies of cavalry, commanded by Stoneman, Gar- 
rard and Kilpatrick. 

In supreme command was Major-General William 
T. Sherman, the most unique figure of the war period. 
Spare of form, and careless in dress, he would have 
found difficulty in securing a position on a brigadier's 
staff in the early days of 1861, when gay trappings 
commanded a premium, and dress-parades and grand 
reviews passed for " war." But when he spoke he re- 
vealed his extraordinary mental powers and wealth of 
nervous energy. Whether ordering a movement of 
troops to meet an unexpected contingency, or listening 
to a report of disaster or success, he instantly compre- 
hended the full import of the event; and. equal to any 
emergency, gave his commands with snappish prompt- 
ness, and at the same time so explicitly that there could 
be no mistake as to his meaning. In some quarters he 



64 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



had been censured for not being a "fighting general;" 
he treated the sneer with a smile. " Fighting is the 
least part of a general's work, the battle will fight it- 
self," he said, on one occasion. To him the actual 
conflict was an incident, which he knew could be trust- 
ed to the courage and ability of the officer actually 
upon the spot. Not that he was wanting in the quali- 
fications of a general ; he possessed them in the 
highest degree, his mind constantly grappling with 
great general plans. His men once in position, where 
he wanted them, and there were those to direct the 
battle, who had naught else to do. 

General Sherman had won great renown as General 
Grant's chief lieutenant at Vicksburg, and in re- 
lieving the Union army beleagured in Chattanooga. 
History tells how competent he was for the chief 
command in the great task now set before him ; but 
no one, not with him, can realize how complete- 
ly he was master of his forces and resources. Not a 
detail was unknown to him. With wonderful direct- 
ness and promptitude, he ordered the movements of 
this vast army, at times separated into numerous 
columns and detachments, all acting independently, 
so far as they themselves knew, yet all co-oper- 
ating in the grand plan of their chief. Like Grant, 
he was a rare judge of men, and he was seldom 
mistaken in his estimate. The weak points of this 
brigade commander, the strong points of another, were 



THE ARMY AND ITS PERSONNEL. 65 

ever in his mind. He knew the various posts along 
his railroad communications, hundreds of miles to the 
rear, and their commanders. If the telegraph told 
him that a block-house was attacked, he knew whether 
the officer in charge would surrender to a cavalry dash, 
or resist a division of infantry with artillery. He 
knew, at all times during a campaign, just how many 
rations and rounds of ammunition there were in his 
wagon trains ; how his men were in health and spirit; 
and the condition of the feet of his cavalry and ar- 
tillery horses. With all this intimate knowledge of 
officers, men and means, and an army having un- 
bounded confidence in itself and in him, Sherman was 
absolutely invincible. 

Yet a little more than two years before this, he 
had been semi-officially denounced as a " crank " 
(although this precise term was not then in vogue), 
and considered unfit for the command of more 'than a 
brigade, because, at a moment in the first year of the 
war, when some one high in authority prophesied 
an end of the struggle " in sixty days," he insisted 
that two hundred thousand men would be needed to 
occupy Kentucky, and carry on offensive operations! 
But this was not far from the number Fate had now 
committed to his charge, to work out the greatest 
problem of the day — the annihilation of the war- 
supporting resources of the " Confederacy," and the 



5 



66 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



transfer of his army to the battle fields of the East, to 
co-operate with Grant in the destruction of Lee. 

And more ! He was to write his own name high 
among those of the great masters of war ; and to plan 
campaigns that would be models for study by genera- 
tions of soldiers yet unborn. His strategy was mar- 
velous, and he found a worthy adversary in General 
Joseph E. Johnston, the opposing commander. Move 
succeeded move, like rook and pawn on the chess-board, 
one giving a check here, the other there. Sherman 
maneuvered so as to gain position after position with 
the minimum loss of men and material; Johnston re- 
treated so skillfully before him that he scarcely lost a 
tin-cup. That the one should achieve victory where 
the other sought to withhold it, is high praise. No 
other such struggle of Titans was witnessed during 
the war. 

As a writer, General Sherman was in many respects 
inimitable, and were he not a soldier he should 
have been an author. His orders, reports and letters, 
were often couched in homely but vigorous phrase, 
somewhat after the manner of Lincoln, emphasizing 
his points in such manner as to fasten them indel- 
ibly upon the mind. Once, while preparing for 
the great campaign, he said: "Beef and salt are 
all that is absolutely necessary to life, and parched 
corn once fed General Jackson's army on this very 
ground." Citizens, at various places along the line of 



THE AEMY AND ITS PEESONNEL. 



67 



his march, clamored to be fed; and the kind-hearted 
Lincoln urged Sherman to supply their necessities. 
He answered : " The railroad can not supply the 
army and the people too. One or the other must 
quit, and the army don't intend to do so, unless 
Jo. Johnston makes us. Let their friends relieve 
them by wagon, as they would before railroads were 
built." The enemy having endeavored to wreck 
railroad trains by planting torpedoes on the track, he 
wrote to a subordinate : " Order the point suspected 
to be tested by a car-load of prisoners or citizens 
implicated ; of course an enemy can not complain of his 
own traps." Newspaper correspondents were a 
special abomination in his eyes, provoking him to 
great wrath, and spasmodic profanity of a highly 
original pattern. " They are," said he, "as a rule mis- 
chievous. They are the world's gossips ; they pick 
up and retail camp scandal, and gradually drift to 
the headquarters of some general who finds it easier to 
make reputation at home than with his troops. They 
are also tempted to prophesy events, and state facts, 
which reveal to an enemy a purpose in time to guard 
against it." The present editor of a great newspaper 
in the Mississippi valley, then a correspondent with 
the army, incurred the personal displeasure of the 
irascible General at, or immediately after, the battle of 
Shiloh, and was treated by him in such a manner as 
never to be forgiven ; even to this day the out- 



68 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



raged scribe allows no opportunity to pass without 
giving the Generalra sharp rap in partial payment of 
the old score. 

Since the war, if it be possible. General Sherman 
has grown even more completely into the affections of 
those he once commanded in the field; and his appear- 
ance at any of the numerous soldiers' reunions calls 
forth greater enthusiasm than that of any other general 
of the war period. This is largely due to his unaffected 
heartiness, when among those who wore the blue in the 
dark days of the Rebellion. He is the most approach- 
able of men, as accessible to the private soldier as to the 
major-general; and his intercourse with all, whether in 
private, or upon public occasions, is such as to impress 
all with his entire honesty when he said, in a letter 
to the author of this narrative: "I cherish a real love 
for the men who fought the civil war to a successful 
conclusion, and I wish them, one and all, the largest 
measure of honor and happiness on this earth." 



MAKING READY. 



69 



CHAPTEE VI. 



MAKING READY. 



HE column about to move 
southward from Chattanooga was 
to consist of nearly one 
hundred thousand men, and 
the plan of campaign con- 
templated a frequent de- 
parture from the railroad, 
and dependence upon the 
wagon trains for subsistence. 
The army was to be re-clothed as 
far as possible, and these stores, together 
with food and ammunition for infantry, cavalry and 
artillery, and forage for animals, in sufficient quantities 
for a thirty days' supply, were all to be sent from 
Louisville, Kentucky, the base of supplies, nearly 
four hundred miles distant, over a single pair of rails 
traversing a hostile region. Although the road was 
guarded by several thousand men, posted along its 
length, in forts, stockades or block-houses, at towns, 
rivers, and water and wood stations, the enemy often 
made serious breaks, destroying scores of engines, 




70 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



hundreds of cars, and burning or carrying away vast 
quantities of stores, which were greatly needed at the 
front. At its ordinary capacity, when undisturbed, the 
railroad could do little more than provide for the 
necessities of the army. 

To accumulate supplies for a forward movement, in 
the face of such difficulties, demanded close economy 
and extraordinary effort. All items of the army ration 
which could possibly be dispensed with, were stricken 
out, little being transported save hard bread, bacon, 
sugar, coffee and salt. Beef was driven from Louis- 
ville on the hoof. Only the most necessary articles 
of clothing were issued. Shoes and stockings, abso- 
lutely indispensable to the march, were provided in 
abundance ; little attention was given to supplying 
outer garments; the men were generally willing to 
wear the same coats and trousers they had brought 
with them from Ticksburg. True, in many cases, 
these dilapidated articles exposed more of the human 
anatomy than they concealed, but their wearers did 
not expect to see company which would be fastidi- 
ous about such things. Many of the line officers were 
scarcely more presentable than their men, and with 
them partook of the same limited fare. 

But supplies failed to accumulate. Cutting red 
tape with a stroke of his pen, Sherman ordered all 
railroad cars reaching Louisville, from whatever direc- 
tion, to be loaded with supplies and sent to the front ; 



MAKING BEADY. 



71 



and in spite of the angry protests of railroad officials 
all over the country, his order was obeyed to the letter. 
Henceforth, trains on the "United States Military 
Railroad" were motley enough, and it may be said, 
without exaggeration, that in many of them there were 
not more than three cars belonging to any one road, 
and nearly all came from north of the Ohio river. 

A few passenger cars were run as far south as 
Nashville, but none beyond that point; and an officer 
or soldier seeking his command at the front was 
obliged, on leaving Nashville, to find a place on the 
top of a freight car, as a member of the armed guard 
which accompanied each train. He was frequently 
fired at by guerrillas from behind trees and hills, 
and often his train was thrown from the track, by 
some obstruction or a displaced rail, and he was 
attacked at a great disadvantage by a considerable 
force of the enemy. But this route, rough as it was, 
was one of pure delight compared with the dirt-road 
assigned to most of those returning from home or hos- 
pital. The latter were organized into temporary com- 
panies or detachments, and obliged to drive and 
guard beef herds, or wagon trains, until they reached 
their destination. 

Notwithstanding the difficulty of securing railroad 
transportation, and the urgent necessity requiring it 
entirely for military purposes, sanitary and christian 
commissions and volunteer philanthropists from every 



72 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



State haying a soldier in the field, sought the freedom 
of the road, only to be denied by the lynx-eyed Sher- 
man. One of these well-meaning functionaries com- 
plained to his governor that the great general had 
treated him with discourtesy. The governor appealed 
to Stanton, Secretary of War, who lectured Sherman, 
whereupon the indignant general retorted in this 
characteristic way: "Even a single passenger is a 
small matter, but he is two hundred pounds avoirdu- 
pois, and his weight in bread and meat would feed one 
hundred men for a day. For mercy's sake allow us 
for the period of our brief campaign to have the exclu- 
sive use of our single track of rail, every foot of which 
we must guard, and every inch of which has cost us a 
precious life." 

And this slender artery of life, upon which depended 
the very existence of a hundred thousand men, and 
perhaps that of the nation itself, was soon to be indefi- 
nitely extended, to keep pace with the army pressing 
southward, every additional mile costing more lives, 
adding to the risk of breakage by the enemy, and 
diminishing the moving column to the extent of the 
detachments left behind for its protection. Important 
bridges and strategic points were guarded by veteran 
troops, posted in earthworks with artillery ; but for the 
greater part the defenses were block-houses and stock- 
ades, garrisoned by " short term " men enlisted for the 
purpose. It was a service of vast importance, but 



MAKING READY. 



73 



monotonous and inglorious, and the rudely painted 
sign displayed at each of these minor posts, addressed 
to passing trains, " Please throw us a paper!" told a 
pathetic story of loneliness and anxiety. In many 
cases these little garrisons were fiercely attacked and 
made gallant and successful resistance. The heroic 
defense of Allatoona, referred to hereafter at length, 
is almost as famous as the " Charge of the Light 
Brigade " — it was certainly far more momentous in its 
results. 

The Railway Construction and Repair Corps, made 
up of civilians, was an all-important ally. Large 
detachments were stationed at suitable points, and dis- 
patched to each break in the road as soon as one oc- 
curred. As a matter of fact, this corps was perpetually 
in motion. So thoroughly was it equipped, and so 
zealously did it push the work, that the enemy fre- 
quently heard the engine whistle at the front, within a 
few hours after they had inflicted damage which they 
believed could not be repaired in a week. Duplicates of 
bridges and important trestles were kept in reserve to 
replace those destroyed, each timber being numbered 
and fitted ready to put in place. Some of this work was 
almost marvelous. But the grandest achievement of 
the corps was the replacement of the bridges over the 
Chattahoochee, Etowah and Oostanaula, which had been 
destroyed by the retreating enemy. These structures, 
being within the enemy's lines, could not be dupli- 



74 



MAECHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



cated from the store-house, and most of the timber 
had to be cut out of the forest, on either side of the 
streams. They were from six to twelve hundred feet 
long, and from eighty to one hundred feet high, yet 
they were replaced in two to five days. The moral 
effect was marvelous. The Union troops were led 
to believe that their communication with home could 
never be interrupted, save for a few hours at a time ; 
while the enemy was fully convinced that Sher- 
man and his men were all but omnipotent, and that 
destructive measures were of little avail to arrest their 
progress. Indeed, there was a story in those days to 
the effect that Johnston had determined to blow up 
an important railroad tunnel in order to stop the 
invaders, whereupon one of his men remarked, " There 
is n't no use in that, 'cause Sherman carries 'long 
duplicates of all the tunnels ! " 

Not less important was the service rendered by the 
Telegraph Corps, also made up of civilians, and under 
the charge of Colonel J. C. Van Duzer, who was desig- 
nated " Superintendent of United States Military 
Telegraphs." Colonel Van Duzer was an operator 
at Carlinville, Illinois, early in 1861, and, on that 
dreadful April morning, gave to the people of that 
place information of the first firing upon the flag at 
Sumter. He was accomplished in his profession ; 
and a genial, whole-souled man. 

At every fort and block-house was stationed one 



$ 
i 



I 



MAKING READY. 



77 



or more of Colonel Van Duzer's corps. Each op- 
erator had for his equipment a navy revolver, and a 
miniature pocket " sounder," which frequently served 
a good purpose. At times, he was driven out of his 
office by a dash of rebel cavalry, or, perhaps, an infantry 
force seeking a lodgment upon the railroad. He 
usually made his escape, and the first thing he did, 
after bidding a hasty good-bye to his assailants, was 
to climb a telegraph pole, attach his pocket instru- 
ment, and notify General Sherman at the front, of the 
number and designs of the enemy, and the direction in 
which they had gone. Barely did the rebels learn 
anything of importance from this trusty servant. He 
dealt in a cipher code, which was unintelligible save 
to the initiated, and even this was frequently changed. 

Another important adjunct was the Signal Corps. 
Its members were chosen from officers and men 
of the army, with a special view to intelligence, 
daring and adaptability. Each detachment carried 
a white flag bearing a black square, colors recogniza- 
ble at a great distance ; and signals were conveyed 
by certain movements to right and left, vertical and 
horizontal, indicating different letters of the alpha- 
bet. The letters signaled stood for other letters, so 
that a cipher code was necessary to the interpretation 
of a message, and the key was changed at frequent 
intervals. The officer in command of each detachment 
carried powerful field-glasses, and also a fine portable 



78 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



telescope, in order to distinguish signals at a great dis- 
tance. The Signal Corps always sought the most con- 
spicuous eminences, whence they could overlook a large 
scope of country, and detect the movements of the 
enemy ; and frequently they erected a temporary 
observatory in the top of a tree, in full view, and 
within easy range, of the hostile riflemen. Some of 
their deeds were of momentous importance, as at Ken- 
esaw Mountain, after the fall of Atlanta, when Sherman 
signalled to Allatoona, and encouraged its gallant little 
garrison to protract its resistance to Hood's desperate 
assault, until reinforcements could reach it. This 
service of the Signal Corps was fraught with great 
personal danger, as when, before Atlanta, on the 
memorable 22d of July, the observing officers held 
their position in a tree almost on the very line of 
battle. 

With each column marched a Pioneer Corps, whose 
position was as near the advance as was safe, and which 
rendered invaluable service in repairing roads and 
bridges. As it traveled, it " blazed" its way on trees 
by the roadside, that troops following might make 
no mistake as to direction. Each army corps had its 
own peculiar " blaze," which was so familiar to all, 
that a straggler knew at a glance whether he was 
following Logan, or Blair, or Palmer, although there 
might not be a soldier or wagon in sight. 

Each army corps had a distinguishing badge, the 



MAKING READY. 



79 



color — red, white, blue, or yellow — indicating the 
divisions. The badge was worn by the men upon coat 
or hat ; and it was inscribed upon the wagons o£ the 
supply and ammunition trains. Some of these em- 
blems were peculiarly suggestive of the traits of the 
commands to which they belonged ; as the " Arrow," 
worn by the Seventeenth Corps, noted for its rapid move- 
ments, and sureness in reaching a place when wanted ; 
the "Cartridge-Box" of the Fifteenth Corps, famous 
for its fighting qualities, and capacity for making 
itself heard; and the "Acorn" of the Fourteenth 
Corps, which stood firm in action as the oak before the 
storm. Less significant were the " Star " of the Twen- 
tieth Corps, the 64 Cross" of the Sixteenth, and others. 

It was this complete system of organization, this 
close attention to seemingly small matters, in very 
many particulars peculiar to it alone, that raised this 
army to so high a degree of efficiency, and gave to its 
chief such a wonderful mastery over it. Well might 
he say, as already quoted in these pages, "The least 
part of a general's work is to fight a battle." 

Napoleon once remarked that he had overrun 
Europe with the bivouac. Sherman had caught the 
same inspiration. Wagon trains were cut down to the 
smallest possible number of wheels and animals. 
Early in war days each company was provided with a 
six-mule wagon, and three were considered necessary 
for regimental headquarters. Even then, when a 



80 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



movement was ordered, it became necessary to abandon 
much camp paraphernalia because of insufficient 
transportation. The cutting down process had been 
going on gradually, until now but one wagon was 
allowed to a regiment, and that for ammunition mainly, 
regimental officers being only permitted space enough 
for a tent-fly, a small mess-kit, and a few light 
valises; and this species of property was always the 
first to be abandoned, if it became necessary to lighten 
the load, on account of broken-down animals or unusu- 
ally bad roads. A pack-mule for carrying cooking 
utensils was permitted to each company, but was often 
dispensed with. 

Each army corps, of fifteen to twenty thousand 
men, had a commissary and ammunition train of about 
five hundred wagons. The various headquarters were 
provided with one or two tents each, to shelter the 
general and staff, Sherman himself setting the example. 
He was closely imitated, save by General Thomas, who 
took with him so large a headquarter train, that it 
went by the name of " Pap Thomas' Circus." 

The lightening of the army " involved a grim con- 
tradiction of terms. The number of animals was less- 
ened, and their burdens decreased, but additional loads 
were put upon the troops. The endurance of the man 
surpassed that of the beast. General Sherman esti- 
mated that the soldiers of each corps d'armee carried 
upon their persons the equivalent of three hundred 



MAKING READY. 



81 



wagon loads ; but this estimate includes arms and per- 
sonal effects which would not be transported for the 
troops in any event. The men became almost pack- 
horses, and, encumbered as they were, their long and 
rapid marches were nothing short of marvelous. Each 
man carried his gun and accoutrements, forty rounds 
of ammunition in his cartridge-box, and one hundred 
and sixty more in his pockets, knapsack, or haversack. 
His blanket and light rubber blanket were made into a 
long roll, the ends tied together, so as to admit of being 
carried upon the shoulder. This roll generally con- 
tained an extra shirt, a pair of socks, and a half-sec- 
tion of a " dog-tent," or piece of light ducking, which, 
when buttoned to the half carried by a comrade, made 
a very fair shelter for two men. Occasionally a soldier 
carried an extra pair of pants or an overcoat, but this 
evidence of extravagance was regarded with contempt 
by most of the men. Knapsacks were often discarded 
entirely. The provision issued to the soldier was a 
much abridged ration, but it brought up the total 
weight of his burden to good thirty pounds, or 
more, no light load to carry for days at a time, in all 
weather, and over all kinds of road. He habitually had 
a three days' supply of hard bread and fat pork, and 
this was to last from seven to ten days in case of 
necessity. 

But if Uncle Sam limited the boys as to their bread 
and meat, he more than made it good with his lavish 
6 



82 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

issues of sugar and coffee. ; And here let it be recorded, 
that coffee accomplished more toward suppressing the 
rebellion than any other one article, unless it be gun- 
powder itself. It was generous in quantity, beyond 
reproach as to quality, and "the boys" knew how to 
extract its subtlest virtues. Each one carried an 
old oyster can in which, after bruising the fragrant 
berry upon a stone, with the butt of his musket, he 
brewed the delicious beverage — the summum bonum of 
human comfort, the panacea for all ills. Black as the 
face of a plantation negro, " strong enough to float an 
iron wedge," and innocent of lacteal adulteration, it 
gave strength to the weary and heavy laden, and cour- 
age to the despondent and sick at heart. The with- 
drawal of the coffee ration would have moved the 
army homeward a great deal sooner than could John- 
ston or Hood. In fact, a dastardly experiment on the 
part of a soulless contractor almost provoked a great 
mutiny at one time. 

It was when Halleck's army lay in front of Corinth, 
in 1862. For about two weeks there was issued to 
the troops, in lieu of the coffee berry, an extract which 
purported to be essence of coffee, compounded with 
sugar and milk. It came in half -gallon tin cans, and 
so much resembled patent wagon grease that it went 
by that name. A teaspoonful, stirred into a tin cup of 
hot water, was supposed to produce first-class home 
coffee, but taste and stomach revolted against the 



MAKING EEADY. 



83 



villainous compound; and the pale air was streaked 
with oaths of the most ornate and florid phraseology, 
abounding in the most picturesque imagery of the 
hadean future of the patentee and contractor, their 
heirs, administrators and assigns forever. The com- 
missary department never had the temerity to attempt 
another issue of the vile stuff. 

The troops were now ready to move out of Chatta- 
nooga. " The pomp and circumstance of glorious 
war" were to be left behind with the sick, the 
tents, and the surplus baggage. The army was at its 
fighting weight, stripped to the buff, ready and 
willing to give and take hard knocks. Henceforth, 
for twelve months to come, until the end of the Avar, 
there were to be no daily drills or parades, except for 
a few days after the capture of Atlanta, and again at 
Savannah. The drum and fife were seldom to be 
heard, and the army marched and fought its way to 
the Sea and to Grant, to the prompt and stirring sum- 
mons of the bugle. 



84 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER VII. 



EN AYANT. 




'SING the language of Gen- 
eral Grant, " heretofore 
the armies in the East 
and West had acted in- 
dependently and without con- 
cert, like a balky team, no two 
ever pulling together." 

General Grant had lately been 
transferred to the East as 
General-in-Chief, and General 
Sherman had succeeded to the supreme command in 
the West. Both were thorough soldiers ; they were 
also intimate friends, rejoicing in each other's suc- 
cesses, and not only willing but glad to be so placed 
as to co-operate. They used the telegraph freely, and 
maintained a voluminous private correspondence, ex- 
changing views with reference to the movements of 
the armies, East and West, suggesting means to this 
or that end, and each conforming his course to that 
of the other. In short, complete confidence and con- 
cert of action existed, and the war was carried on, 
from Chattanooga to Virginia, with a definite plan. 



EN AVANT. 



85 



May 4th, 1864, General Grant crossed the Rapidan, 
moving toward Richmond; and, twelve hours later, 
General Sherman put his army in motion in the direc- 
tion of Atlanta. Each was fully determined to furnish 
so much employment to the enemy in his front that 
no forces could be spared by either to confront the 
other. 

Sherman's army numbered ninety-three thousand 
men for battle.' Against him, Johnston had at the 
outset sixty thousand effectives, which number was 
shortly to be increased to seventy thousand. The latter 
army, being upon the defensive, and operating on inte- 
rior lines, was by all rules of war more than equal to 
its assailant. This ratio was substantially maintained 
during the campaign ending with the fall of Atlanta; 
hence it will be seen that the federals had no material 
advantage over the enemy. 

General Sherman's first step was the occupation of 
Dalton, naturally a strong point, and a railroad junc- 
tion of great importance to the enemy. The direct 
route was impracticable. It lay through the pass 
known as Buzzard Roost, cleft by nature through 
Rocky Face, a formidable spur of the Alleghany range 
of mountains. The Army of the Cumberland, under 
General Thomas, occupied the northern entrance to the 
pass, supported by the Twenty-third Corps under 
General Schofield; while the Army of the Tennessee, 
under General McPherson, began that series of flank- 



86 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



ing movements for which it was soon to become 
famous. McPherson' s line of march lay southward to 
Snake Creek Gap, which gave an easy access to 
Resaca, to the south of Dalton, occupied by the enemy 
under General Johnston. This movement was begun 
in excellent order, McPherson passing through Snake 
Creek Gap without difficulty, only meeting, at the far- 
ther end, a cavalry force, which was easily dispersed. 
On arriving in front of Resaca, however, he found the 
works so complete and well manned that he doubted 
his ability to take them by assault, and he fell back to 
Snake Creek Gap. Sherman. was greatly disappointed, 
and used the only harsh language he ever uttered to- 
ward McPherson, who was, indeed, his most trusted 
lieutenant. He said: "Such an opportunity does not 
occur twice in a single life, but at the critical moment 
McPherson appears to have been a little timid. He 
could have captured half of Johnston's army, and all 
his artillery and wagons," At the same time he 
robbed his censure of much of its sharpness by saying 
that McPherson was perfectly justified by his orders. 

Meanwhile, Thomas and Schofield fought Johnston 
hard at Rocky Face, until the failure of McPherson' s 
movement upon Resaca was known, when Sherman 
ordered a concentration of his army upon the latter 
point. As soon as this became known to Johnston he 
abandoned Dalton, and both armies faced each other 
at Resaca. 



EN AVANT. 



87 



The strength of the enemy's position here, and the 
nature of their works, proved to be all that McPherson 
had asserted, and the entire army found serious 
employment for some days. The enemy's line was 
developed May 14th, and the next day was a continu- 
ous engagement, more or less severe, along the entire 
line, the Army of the Tennessee taking the brunt of 
the work, and gaining a heavily fortified ridge from 
which it might reach, with its guns, the railroad bridge 
across the Oostanaula river. The enemy made repeated 
and desperate attempts to dislodge McPherson, but 
without success. That night Johnston abandoned 
Resaca. 

From all over the South came a fierce howl of rage 
on account of this disaster, and Johnston was censured 
so severely that at a later day he thought proper to 
vindicate himself, in language which is a fine tribute to 
the army which opposed him. "My own operations," 
he said, "were determined by the relative forces of 
the armies, and a higher estimate of the Northern 
soldiers than our Southern editors and politicians 
were accustomed to express, or even the administra- 
tion seemed to entertain. Observation of almost 
twenty years of service had impressed on my mind the 
belief that the soldiers of the regular army of the 
United States, almost all Northern men, were equal in 
fighting qualities to any that had been formed in the 
wars of Great Britain and France. General Sher- 



88 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



man's troops, with whom we were contending, had 
received a longer training in war than any of those 
with whom I had served in former times. It was not 
to be supposed that such troops, under a sagacious 
and resolute leader, and covered by entrenchments, 
were to be beaten by greatly inferior numbers." 

Johnston, however, so far heeded the clamor as to 
issue a general order, promising to gire battle at Cass- 
ville ; and his troops, as was discerned from the utter- 
ances of prisoners, were constantly taught that they 
were not retreating because the fortune of war was 
going against them, but because their general was 
only drawing the enemy on to certain destruction. 

On the 17th, General Johnston went into position 
at Adairsville, but the Army of the Cumberland 
pressed him closely in front, while the Army of the 
Tennessee threatened him seriously on one flank, and 
that of the Ohio on the other. He therefore decided 
to retreat to Cassville, where he entrenched heavily, 
and issued to his troops orders for battle. He failed 
to make a stand, however, and, on the 20th, retreated 
farther southward. 

General Johnston always considered the abandon- 
ment of Cassville as suicidal, but fixed the responsi- 
bility upon Generals Hood and Polk, who maintained 
that their position would be enfiladed by the federal 
artillery, and that they would be unable to hold it. 
General Johnston says of this: " Although the 



EN AYANT. 



89 



position was the best we had occupied, I at last 
yielded, in the belief that the confidence of the com- 
manders of two of the three corps of the army, of their 
inability to resist the enemy, would inevitably be com- 
municated to their troops and produce that inability." 
An angry discussion grew out of this affair, and many 
statements have been made on either side, General 
Hood in particular entering a bitter denial. In face 
of these conflicting statements, it is extremely difficult 
to arrive at the truth. 

Upon abandoning Cassville, the enemy retreated 
across the Etowah river, burning the railroad bridge 
behind him, although immediately and hotly pursued. 
Here Sherman halted his army for a brief time, for 
much needed rest, as well as to enable the Construction 
Corps to repair the railroad, and give opportunity for 
reloading the provision trains, which were well nigh 
exhausted. 

Meanwhile, a division under General Jeff. C. Davis 
made a rapid movement upon Rome, Georgia, some- 
what to the right and rear, and entered that place after 
a brisk engagement, in which he lost about one hun- 
dred and fifty men. This success not only relieved 
the principal column from constant threat, but it also 
made an easy pathway for General Frank P. Blair, 
who was marching from the Tennessee river with two 
divisions of the Seventeenth Corps, returning from 
"veteran furlough." 



90 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Allatoona was the next obstruction, and a most for- 
midable one. General Sherman determined to avoid 
it by a movement to the right, and on the 23d, General 
Thomas moved his command toward Dallas, taking 
twenty days' rations in haversack and wagon. He 
had approached near New Hope Church, when he 
found that the enemy had abandoned Allatoona and 
was again in his front. A sharp engagement ensued, 
in which the enemy was driven some little distance, to 
the vicinity of the church, where he entrenched, and 
Generals McPherson and Schofield were called to 
close up with the remainder of General Sherman's 
army, then in line. In this movement General 
McPherson was sharply attacked in the vicinity of 
Dallas, but his men, by brisk work, had succeeded in 
throwing up slight fortifications, and repulsed the 
enemy, inflicting considerable loss. Some days after- 
ward General Sherman occupied Ackworth, again 
reaching the railroad, and the Construction Corps was 
set to work rebuilding the bridge over the Etowah. 

During the month, since leaving Chattanooga, 
Sherman had driven the enemy nearly a hundred 
miles, fought six battles, captured twelve guns and 
two thousand prisoners, and killed and wounded 
fifteen thousand of the enemy. His own loss in killed 
and wounded was about ten thousand men. 



AN INCIDENTAL FORCED MARCH. 



91 




CHAPTEE VIII. 



AN INCIDENTAL FORCED MARCH. 



and Fourth divisions of the 
Seventeenth Corps. Gen- 
eral Sherman had been 
loath to leave Chattanooga before the arrival 
of these troops, who had been home on the thirty 
days' veteran furlough granted to all soldiers re- 
enlisting for another term of three years. They could 
not be assembled in time, however, and he had been 
obliged to begin the campaign without them. They 
were now greatly needed to make up for the losses 
thus far; besides, General Sherman's intimate ac- 
quaintance with them, dating back to the early days 
on the Tennessee river, led him to depend upon them 
in an unusual degree. 

General Blair's command had rendezvoused at 
Cairo, and was to be transported by boat to Clifton, on 
the Tennessee river, thence marching across the coun- 
try by way of Huntsville, Alabama. There were some 



92 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



curious incidents connected with this march. General 
Blair, a gallant officer, was noted for strong self- 
assertion, and a disposition to make this trait quite 
conspicuous when he happened to be in a position 
where he could do so. Notwithstanding urgent and 
repeated orders from General Sherman to hurry his 
command to the front, he tarried at Cairo, taking 
things quite easily. Possibly he had some excuse for 
dilatoriness. The transports were under the control of 
a high officer of the quartermaster-general's depart- 
ment, clothed with extraordinary powers by the Sec- 
retary of AYar. who was not disposed to regard the 
emergency as sufficient to call for any unusual effort. 
Nearly ail the steamboats chartered by the govern- 
ment were engaged between Cairo and ports on the 
lower Mississippi, and the diversion of any of them 
to a trip up the Tennessee seemed to him too unim- 
portant an undertaking to engage in. 

At this juncture, Colonel John I. Kinaker, of the 
122d Illinois Regiment, commanding the post of Cairo, 
received telegrams from General Sherman, enquiring 
as to the whereabouts of General Blairs command, 
and directing him to take any measures necessary to 
expedite its departure, if it had not already gone. 
Colonel Einaker at once issued orders for the seizure 
of any boats coming into port, and it happened that 
the first to arrive were fast side-wheel steamers, 
engaged in general trade on the lower Mississippi. 



AN INCIDENTAL FORCED MARCH. 



93 



The officers of the vessels entered loud objections, 
appealing to the quartermaster in charge of river 
transportation, who directed them to pay no attention 
to Colonel Rinaker's orders, suggesting that other and 
smaller boats would soon arrive, which would answer 
the purpose as well. Even this assurance was a great 
concession, but Rinaker refused to release the boats, and 
General Gresham, who was extremely anxious to reach 
the front, at once embarked his brigade and proceeded 
up river, closely followed by the remainder of General 
Crocker's division and that of General Leggett. 
General Gresham, in particular, was highly pleased 
with Colonel Rinaker's action, and expressed his 
obligations to him in warm terms. 

The march from Clifton was an exceedingly 
unpleasant experience. Thirty days of high living at 
home, feasted by mothers, wives, and sisters, upon all 
the enervating delicacies to which they had so long 
been strangers, together with balls and late suppers, 
had softened the muscles of the men, while their pam- 
pered appetites rebelled against short rations of coarse 
food. But there was urgent necessity for these troops 
at the front, and delay was not to be tolerated. The 
men did not understand the requirements of the case 
as did General Blair, who had been goaded almost to 
desperation by the sharp and frequent messages of 
General Sherman, bidding him push forward in the 
shortest possible time, and they swore horribly at 



94 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



their commander for the rapid pace to which he 
continually pushed them. Sixteen miles a day was 
the shortest march expected; as a matter of fact, more 
frequently from eighteen to twenty miles was the 
distance actually accomplished. This was no small 
task, loaded down as the men were with rations and 
ammunition; besides, the weather was extremely 
hot. During the greater part of the march, the 
column was annoyed by Roddy's rebel cavalry, which, 
while not sufficiently strong to do any great damage, 
was numerous and alert enough to keep the blood 
warm and cause great watchfulness. 

May 26th, the troops reached Decatur, Alabama, on 
the Tennessee river, one of the most picturesque situa- 
tions visited by the army during the entire war. 
Later in the day, a pontoon bridge was laid and they 
crossed to the east side. 

Before reaching Rome, much of the route lay over 
a very mountainous region. Sand Mountain, a spur 
from the southern continuation of the range of which 
the famous Lookout Mountain is the most conspicuous 
member, was particularly dangerous. This was not a 
single peak, as the name would imply, but a succes- 
sion of mountains, of no great altitude, yet very 
precipitous. In the sides of these, immediately over- 
looking an almost perpendicular descent of hundreds 
of feet, a roadway had been cut, so narrow as to 
furnish room for only one team. A sudden pitch 



AN INCIDENTAL FOECED MAECH. 



97 



sidewise, or a rough jolt against one of the many 
huge bowlders which lay in the roadway, was sufficient 
to upset a wagon and send it tearing down the moun- 
tain side, end over end. Several such accidents 
actually occurred, but fortunately no human life was 
lost, the teamsters being fortunate enough to leave 
their saddles and reach a place of safety before the 
crash came. The passage of the train necessarily put 
a great deal of arduous labor upon the troops, and it 
was by no means unusual to see a squad of soldiers 
bolstering up a wagon, in order to keep the center of 
gravity within the limit of safety. 

Considerable straggling from ranks occurred dur- 
ing the march, and severe measures were taken to 
repress it. In one instance, by the personal order of 
General Blair, and under his own eye, one of the offend- 
ers was " spread-eagled " at the tail-board of a wagon, 
his arms being extended, and his hands tied to either 
end of the gate, his face to the wagon. Unable to see 
through the vehicle, or look down at the road, his 
punishment was painful enough in the passage over 
the mountain, as he was jerked violently from side to 
side, with every motion of the wagon. When night 
came, the wagon pulled in to the place selected for 
General Blair's headquarters; and the general, recog- 
nizing his victim, and appreciating the fact that the 
breach of discipline had been sufficiently punished, 
ordered him to be cast loose, and provided a good 
7 



98 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



supper and a canteen of " commissary ; " then dis- 
missed him, with an injunction to remain in the 
ranks thereafter. The soldier accepted the liquor, if 
not the advice, as the amende honorable, and bore no 
malice. 

Near Warrenton, Alabama, a country post-office 
yielded a large mail sent out from the rebel army, under 
General Bragg, in the September previous. The letters 
had been held at this place on account of the impossi- 
bility of forwarding them to their destination, and 
were sealed as when the writers sent them out. The 
Yankees, having no respect for the sanctity of such 
communications, distributed and opened them, the con- 
tents in many instances provoking great merriment. 
The following extract from one of these letters gives 
an inside view of the feeling, not only in the enemy's 
ranks, but at their homes as well: 

11 Meridian, Sept. 23d, 1863. 
"Dear Mollie: * * As I know you will hear nothing 
at Natchez favorable to our cause, I will give you all the particulars 
known so far in regard to our great victory. On the 18th, after several 
unsuccessful attempts, Bragg forced Rosecrans to battle near Ringgold, 
Georgia, which has continued up to the present time, and is still raging. 
Bragg has gained a great, glorious and crushing victory. Rosecrans 
destroyed Chattanooga yesterday, crossed the Tennessee river, and is 
flying towards Nashville, hotly and vigorously pursued by Bragg, with 
the noble army of veterans who have already thrashed him soundly, 
taking over six thousand prisoners, fifty-two pieces of artillery, and 
innumerable small arms, etc. Bragg will make his victory still more 
disastrous to ' the best government the world ever saw. ' It is his inten- 
tion to drive the enemy across the Ohio river before he stops. Where 

are now the beautiful Misses , who cursed Jeff Davis and the 

Southern Confederacy when Vicksburg fell ? Also, those cowardly 



AN INCIDENTAL FOKCED MARCH. 99 

sneaks who have given up all hope; the men who have treated the Yan- 
kees with such favor, and entertained them at their houses? Their 
shameful conduct will never be forgotten. * * Expect me home in 
about fifteen days. I think by that time you will all be once more free. 
* * With much love, as ever, Will." 

Rain fell almost without intermission during the 
latter part of the march, but shortly before reaching 
the Coosa river the sun again shone out, and dried the 
men's clothing upon their persons. The river, already 
greatly swollen, was rising rapidly; and, as the pon- 
toon train was almost hopelessly anchored in mud, far 
in the rear, the troops were ordered to ford the 
stream. Being averse to again marching in water- 
soaked clothing, they removed their shoes, socks and 
trousers, and strapped them upon their knapsacks; 
then, tucking their shirts under their arm-pits, plunged 
in, dressing themselves on gaining the farther shore. 
An elderly woman, connected with the Sanitary Com- 
mission, who swam her horse across in time to wit- 
ness the passage of the strange procession, remarked 
that she had never seen anything like it before. 

June 8th, General Blair's command reached Kings- 
ton, Georgia, and opened communication with the 
main body of the army, which was some miles farther 
south. 



100 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



y 



CHAPTEE IX. 



KENESAW MOUNTAIN. 

►YE never gazed upon a grander 
scene than that spread before 
the vision from the summit 
of Ackworth's rugged hill that 
bright June day, more than 
twenty years ago. To front and 
rear, the valleys stretched away 
in wide expanse of field, and 
orchard, and grove. The air 
was laden with the incense of 
flower and fruit. Fleecy clouds 
floated athwart the blue expanse above, intercepting 
here and there the bright sunshine, and mottling the 
landscape with alternate patches of light and shadow, 
which chased each other from field to field, across 
hillock and stream. 

Through this fine setting passed a magnificent 
panorama. Following the meanderings of numerous 
roads, hither and thither, to right and to left, up hill 
and down dale, in sunshine and in shadow, long lines 
of blue, tipped with shining steel, threaded their way. 




KENESAW MOUNTAIN. 



101 



Here, borne by a mounted orderly, a yellow guidon, 
inscribed with, the familiar devices belonging to gen- 
eral headquarters, spoke the presence of the supreme 
chief and his staff. At intervals, similar banners 
emblazoned with arrow, or cartridge-box, or acorn, 
designated the places of corps commanders; others 
with these emblems in red, white, or blue, told of the 
presence of division and brigade generals, enabling the 
practiced eye to recognize and name each command 
as far as the devices could be discerned. Between 
and among these, behind and in front, as far as the 
eye could reach, floated countless national colors, each 
marking a regimental organization. So far did they 
lie below the point of observation on Ackworth, that 
regiments seemed to be but companies, and no sound 
came up from the mighty host. In rear of each divi- 
sion followed the artillery, the bright brass of the 
Napoleons alternating with the dull color of the steel 
Eodmans. And then, away in the background, rising 
and falling with hill and valley, outlined against the 
bright green of field and wood, or the clear blue sky, 
the long wagon train stretched out, the white canvas 
covers seeming, in the distance, like the sails of ships 
at sea. 

Far to the front, bounding the entire southern 
horizon, rose majestic Kenesaw, " the Twin Moun- 
tain," and its adjacent peaks, as if planted there to 
stay the steps of the onward pressing hosts, bidding 



102 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



tkera go thus far and no farther. But already, almost 
at their very base, white puffs of smoke rose in defi- 
ance from the rifles of the federal advance ; while high 
overhead, at Ackworth, waved the tell-tale flags that 
bore the directions of the great war-chief to the 
troops opening the conflict. 

June 10th, the army reached Big Shanty, a railroad 
station lying almost at the foot of Kenesaw Moun- 
tain. It was already famous, having been the scene 
of a remarkable occurrence early in 1862. In order 
to break the Atlanta railroad and prevent, the rebels 
from reinforcing their army, opposing General Grant 
at Shiloh, General Mitchell sent twenty picked men to 
this place, then far in the interior of the " Confeder- 
acy." They went disguised, pursuing different roads, 
and in accordance with their prearranged plan came 
together at Big Shanty, then a rebel camp. Watching 
an opportunity, they stole a light freight train, while 
the crew were at dinner, and made off at the utmost 
speed in the direction of Chattanooga. Their inten- 
tion was to burn various large bridges after passing 
over them ; but hot pursuit was made by another 
train, and they were unable to accomplish their pur- 
pose. They soon consumed all the wood and water 
aboard the tender, and found the engine otherwise 
becoming useless, the brass journals having actually 
melted in the wild run ; and, when near Chattanooga, 
the daring fellows found themselves obliged to jump 



KENESAW MOUNTAIN. 



103 



from the engine and seek concealment in the woods. 
The enemy hunted them down, however, and hung 
several of their number. A thrilling account of this 
remarkable adventure has been recently written by 
one of the survivors, now a Methodist minister. 

Near by, and towering grandly upward, rose Ken- 
esaw, a formidable range, nearly three miles long. 
Known as "the Twin Mountain," it might be better 
described as a single eminence with a slight break or 
depression about one-third the distance from its 
northern end. To the northwest lay Pine Mountain, 
and to the south, Lost Mountain, two almost conical 
peaks, connected with Kenesaw and each other by 
heavily timbered ridges. It was the most perfect 
natural fortification Sherman's army ever encountered, 
and the enemy made the most of the advantages it 
afforded. Their line from Kenesaw to Pine Moun- 
tain was generally semi-circular, the concavity being 
presented to the Union troops. From base to peak, 
these everlasting hills bristled with batteries and 
swarmed with men. Their elevation gave them a 
bird's-eye view of the federal skirmish and battle 
lines, and their flags could be seen waving from peak 
to peak, signaling every movement of their assail- 
ants. While everything transpiring in the Union 
army was distinctly noted by them, their own 
movements were concealed by the heavy timber which 
veiled their lines, A partial compensation for this 



104 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



was found in the fact tliat the federal signal officers 
had deciphered the enemy's code, and could read 
their flags almost as readily as they themselves. In- 
deed, it was by means of these signals that General 
Sherman learned of the death of Polk, the rebel 
Bishop-General, a few days later. It is not improb- 
able, however, that the enemy was equally quick- 
witted, and acquired much valuable information in a 
similar way. 

The enemy's line was soon developed by the fed- 
eral skirmishers, those of Blair's Seventeenth Corps 
occupying the left, near the north flank of Kenesaw; 
Logan's Fifteenth Corps and Dodge's Sixteenth Corps 
joining them on the right. Then came Thomas, with 
the Army of the Cumberland, in front of Pine Moun- 
tain, and the interval between that and Kenesaw. 
Schofield lay under Lost Mountain. 

Before the close of the day, the skirmish line was 
feeling the enemy along his entire front of nearly ten 
miles, while here and there a battery threw a few 
experimental shells. 

The next morning, a sunless, cheerless, drizzling 
day, General Sherman rode to the front, with a single 
staff officer and an orderly. Dismounting, he seated 
himself upon a fallen log near the railroad track. 
Colonel Tan Duzer had just taken from his pocket a 
"light piece of wire, scarcely larger than a horse hair. 
This he spliced to the telegraph wire which dangled 



KENESAW MOUNTAIN. 



105 



from a pole near by, and attached it to his pocket- 
instrument, not larger than an ordinary snuff-box. 
Seating himself beside the general, he began tapping 
the delicate little key, the general dictating. A half- 
hour later, Van Duzer's ear was closely bent to the 
miniature sounder, and his lips moved as he gave 
Sherman the answering message. The latter made 
a gesture, expressive of satisfaction, then mounted 
his horse and rode away. A few moments afterward, 
Van Duzer told the writer that the general had 
reported satisfactory progress to headquarters at 
Washington, receiving in return an answer, expressing 
great satisfaction, and conveying warm congratula- 
tions. 

Later in the day, a daring federal engineer ran his 
locomotive up the railroad immediately under Kene- 
saw, and drew the fire of the rebel batteries. He 
blew his whistle defiantly, and then backed away with- 
out injury, while the vast Union army cheered and 
cheered, until the hills of Georgia rang with the 
sound. It was terribly exasperating to the enemy, 
and their skirmish line opened a spiteful fire, which 
was as viciously returned, night alone putting an end 
to the noisy but comparatively harmless conflict. 



106 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE X. 



ON THE LINES. 



P to this time, the entire 
army had been engaged 
with the enemy at no 
one time, and the actual 
fighting had covered a 
small front. At Kenesaw, 
Johnston made his first de- 
cided stand, obliging Sher- 
man to bring into use all 
the means at his disposal. Here 
the whole army went into line of battle, shoulder to 
shoulder, and from the 10th of June until the fall of 
Atlanta, in September, nearly three months later, 
there was scarcely a day but every division, brigade 
and regiment was under fire. The line was not far 
from ten miles long, and a picture of a single day's 
experience of any one regiment would be a faithful 
portraiture of what was transpiring along the entire 
front of the army each and every day of those three 
eventful months, except upon occasions when the 




ON THE LINES. 



107 



grand skirmish rose to the dignity of a general 
action. Not that all the troops were engaged in 
similar degree. At times a part of the army was 
occupied in desultory skirmishing, while near neigh- 
bors were seriously employed. Again, these condi- 
tions would be reversed. On the whole, the experi- 
ences of the various commands may be regarded as 
balancing fairly at the end of the campaign, honors 
and losses being impartially divided. 

And now the thin Line of Blue, deployed as 
skirmishers, pushed the Line of Gray steadily back- 
ward against Kenesaw. It was man against man — 
equally courageous, equally self-reliant, equally 
fervent in his endeavor. Rarely did either see more 
than a half-dozen of his enemy, more frequently 
but one, often none at all, sometimes only able to 
locate his position by the puff of smoke from his 
rifle. Yet, Blue and Gray were but short rifle-range 
apart, and a movement of the line-of -battle, constantly 
in easy supporting distance on either side, would have 
brought more than one hundred thousand men into an 
almost hand to hand conflict, and unloosed the throats 
of nearly half a thousand pieces of artillery! 

At times, the soldier in Blue made a dash forward, 
gaining a score of yards of ground; but generally he 
crept warily from tree to tree, or crawled upon the 
ground, availing himself of every little hillock or 
inequality, to take advantage of his adversary, who, 



108 



MABCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



whether advancing or retreating, was as wary as him- 
self. No matter what his position, his eyes were 
always to the front, and the slightest motion of the 
enemy was greeted with a shot from his ever ready 
Enfield. Loading his gun — it was a muzzle loader 
then, and he was obliged to bite his paper cartridge, 
and drive the charge home with his ramrod — was 
reduced to a science, which set at defiance all the 
minute and machine-like movements peculiar to the 
manual of arms. Behind a tree, without exposing 
a surplus inch of his anatomy, or prone on the 
ground, rolled upon his side or lying on his back, he 
drove his charge home, and was ready for instant 
action. He in Gray was equally quick and fertile of 
expedients. Not a foot of ground was lost or gained 
without a sharp struggle, and a list of killed and 
wounded on either side. A line was generally 
entrenched almost as soon as it was established, some 
of the men carrying spades, and others rails, against 
which they threw a little dirt. On level ground they 
sometimes dug a hole, in which to kneel down or stand 
up, so that they might peer over at their enemy. 
The best work in constructing these slight but valua- 
ble fortifications was often done by night, and the 
morning nearly always found the skirmish-line better 
prepared to inflict injury upon the enemy than it had 
been the night before. Frequently two or three men 
would occupy the same hole, and then all sorts of devices 



ON THE LINES. 



109 



were used to circumvent the enemy, One would raise 
his cap on a ramrod to draw his fire, while a comrade 
took the opportune moment to spot the Gray who took 
the bait. Often the skirmishers were obliged to leave 
shelter before they had " warmed their holes," as they 
expressed it, to make a sudden dash upon the enemy, 
for the purpose of securing more ground, and some- 
times it was their opponents who stirred them out in 
turn, and made them take a hurried trip to the rear. 
At times, having located their enemy's position dur- 
ing the day, they would make a midnight dash, 
noiselessly, without firing a gun, taking the Gray " in 
out of the wet," and bearing him back as a prisoner. 
Occasionally the Blue would keep his prisoner with 
him in his rifle-pit until he was relieved and could 
take him into camp. In such cases the two frater- 
nized most heartily, the Yankee sharing his provisions 
with the " Johnny," and the latter dividing tobacco 
with his captor; both " swapping lies" the while, 
comparing notes as to where they had met before, and 
what they did upon that occasion, interspersing these 
reminiscences with highly imaginative prophecies of 
the outcome of the campaign; the Yankee meanwhile 
losing no opportunity to take a crack at his captive's 
relatives and friends. If the Blue line made itself 
particularly annoying to the Gray, and being the 
assailant, it generally did this daily, the enemy would 
sweep the ground with grape, canister, and shell, pro- 



110 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



yoking a warm return fire from the federal artillery. 
This usually quieted both skirmish lines, and the 
occupants of the rival rifle-pits would remain under 
cover until the artillery duel was over, when they 
would blaze away at each other with more spirit than 
before. A storm had the same effect. " No matter 
how severe the skirmishing might be, it would 
speedily die away under the effects of a rain; and as 
soon as the sun shone out again, the firing would 
re-commence with redoubled vigor, regardless of 
provocation or possible result. 

At nightfall, or just before, when the ground to be 
occupied could be sufficiently discerned without at- 
tracting the attention of the enemy, the skirmishers 
were relieved by others of their comrades. These 
would bring provisions to last a day, and they in turn 
would enter upon a round of experiences such as have 
been described. 

A figure on the skirmish line, familiar perhaps to 
the entire army, was a vagabondish fellow, whose 
regiment is not remembered. He conducted his part 
of the campaign entirely after his own fashion. 
Armed with a rifle having telescopic sights, and laden 
with a spade, a couple of haversacks of provisions, and 
a brace of canteens, he would find an eligible location, 
dig a hole, and stay there until his rations or ammu- 
nition were exhausted, when he would go to the rear 
for a fresh supply, only to return and resume his 



OK THE LINES. 



Ill 



murderous work. He was a dead shot, and the terror 
of the enemy's artillerists, whose guns he had fre- 
quently silenced. Great effort had been made to kill 
or capture him, but without success. 

There were many comical incidents even where 
death stared every man in the face. The skir- 
mishers of Gresham's division of Blair's corps one 
day found an apple orchard in their front. Their 
mouths watered for the rare fruit, but it was certain 
death to walk to the trees. Some of the men, by slow 
and tedious effort, dragged themselves upon their 
stomachs until they reached the much desired goal, 
then flopped over upon their backs, and brought down 
the apples by throwing sticks into the trees. The 
enemy poured a hot fire through the orchard, and suc- 
ceeded in killing one man and crippling others. At a 
later day, Blue and Gray arranged a truce on their 
own responsibility, and met here to enjoy the fruit 
and exchange opinions with reference to the war. The 
average Southern soldier could not by any means com- 
pare with the Northerner in intelligence or discern- 
ment, for school houses and newspapers were too 
unequally divided between the two sections. Some of 
the ideas of the Southerner were extremely crude. 
The typical Gray — he of the "poor white trash," who 
made up the great majority of Georgian and Carolina 
troops, " Corner ackers " and " Tar Heels," as they were 
known — saw only one cause for the conflict: " What 



112 



MARCHING 



THROUGH GEORGIA. 



did you'uns come down here to steal we'un's niggers 
for?" 

It was a remarkable fact that the bitterness of 
the Southerner increased as he had less interest in 
negro property, by reason of his utter poverty, which 
absolutely forbade his owning even one "nigger." 
His views on the conduct of the war were equally 
comical. One whom the author recalls to mind, 
expressed a sentiment frequently heard from his 
fellows, that "Sherman didn't fight far," that John- 
ston had offered to fight him at a dozen different 
places, but " Sherman darsn't take it up, and only 
flanked him." But " Sherman w T ould soon git to whar 
he couldn't flank no mo', and then he'd have to fight, 
and Johnston' d lick him." Strange as it may appear, 
the same ideas were expressed, but in better language, 
by the Atlanta papers, which frequently fell into 
federal hands. One of these, by the way, was an old 
friend with a new face — the Memphis Appeal, which, 
on the occupation of that city by the federals, in 1862, 
was moved, and became the Grenada Appeal. Like 
the Wandering Jew, it was obliged to "on," and after 
three or four more removals finally brought up at 
Atlanta, as the Atlanta Appeal. The boys in Blue, 
who were always alive to an opportunity for a joke, 
had long before dubbed it the "Moving Appeal," 
which it was, in spirit and in fact. 

So went life on the skirmish line. And death, too! 



ON THE LINES. 



113 



For each night, when the new line went out, it found 
that some of those who had gone forth a few hours 
before, to battle for country, had been " relieved from 
duty " by that dread commander, whose army is the 
grim and silent majority, and whose decrees are inex- 
orable. 

And others of the gallant skirmish line crawled 
painfully back, or were borne tenderly by comrades, 
pierced by bullet or bruised by shell, to drag out a 
maimed existence, or perish miserably in hospital. 

The line of battle was habitually from one to five 
hundred yards in rear of the skirmish line, the dis- 
tance depending greatly upon the conformation of the 
ground, and always strongly entrenched. The men 
were as expert in the use of the spade and the ax as 
with the rifle, and two hours' work made a very fair 
protection. Earth was thrown up to the height of two 
or three feet, sometimes higher. Frequently head- 
logs were placed upon the parapet, the ends resting 
upon skids leaning inwardly, and to the ground. The 
space between the head-log and the parapet permitted 
the troops to aim their rifles at the enemy with little 
exposure of themselves, while the skids provided a 
way for the head-log to reach the ground without 
doing injury to the men, in the event of its being dis- 
lodged by a cannon ball. Immediately behind these 
works the troops erected their shelter tents. They 
were not allowed to leave their quarters, but were kept 

8 



114 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



continually on the ground, ready to move forward at 
any moment to support the skirmish line, make an 
onslaught upon the enemy, or to resist an attack. No 
music was permitted, and frequently fires were for- 
bidden. The latter regulation was, however, a dead 
letter, except in very rare cases, where the men them- 
selves could actually see its necessity by immediate 
danger. Coffee was their staff of life, and they must 
have it, no matter what risk attended. The most 
disheartening event that could happen a soldier was 
to be called into line just as his coffee pot was begin- 
ning to bubble. 

At night, the men in the line of battle rested 
lightly, w r ith their arms at their sides, and seldom 
undressed. Firing on the skirmish line, more or less 
noisy, continued all night, and frequently some un- 
usual stir on the part of the enemy, real or fancied, 
provoked a lively fusilade, causing the troops on the 
main line to fall into ranks, ready for such emergency 
as might arise, at times remaining under arms until 
after daylight. 

Even when in repose, the casualties in the line of 
battle, hidden perhaps from sight of the enemy, were 
often as numerous as on the skirmish line, for it 
caught nearly all the bullets that overshot the skir- 
mishers. David Kimball, now superintendent of 
newspaper distribution in the Chicago post-office, will 
long remember his own experience. He was seated 



ON THE LINES. 



115 



just within a light barricade of logs, built to protect 
his field-desk, with his back to the enemy, when a 
rifle-ball flew over and nipped a piece of skin from 
his neck. It was amusing to see him throw his hand 
upon the injured spot, and hear him express himself 
in language not authorized by the Book of Common 
Prayer ! 

But when the enemy opened with his batteries it 
was really hot! The shells burst at the most awk- 
ward moments, while the solid shot whistled through 
the trees, tearing off huge branches, and making 
it generally uncomfortable. Eccentric enough these 
missiles were, and their ways past finding out. In one 
case an elongated shot — a " lamp-post," as that sort 
of a projectile was called — struck the root of a tree 
in front of a staff tent, belonging to General Giles A. 
Smith's headquarters. The shot glanced, and fol- 
lowed the trunk twenty feet upward, tearing off the 
bark, and finally cutting away a large limb which, in 
its fall, nearly wrecked tent, and occupants as well. 
The next shot cut down a tree which fell upon a "fly" 
adjoining, spraining the leg of an ordnance officer, 
and breaking one for his orderly. 

These slight drawbacks did not disturb the spirits 
of the men. They gathered in knots near their 
color-line, playing the " little game" of euchre 
or seven-up, discussing the campaign, and prophe- 
sying as to the next movement. In every regiment 



116 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



was someone who had seen somebody, who had heard 
somebody from headquarters say, etc., etc., and then 
he would relate the news. There was no newspaper, 
no intelligence whatever from the outside world, but 
surmise and imagination amply supplied the defi- 
ciency. Canards, more or less plausible, were set 
afloat, seemingly without any foundation, but they had 
the rare merit of being innocent lies, that injured 
no one. If it were a tale of disaster, it had happened 
to Grant, or had occurred out in Missouri, or down in 
Texas — it was never at home. It is highly suggestive 
of the unbounded self-confidence of this army, that 
there was never bad news from any part of itself. 
Palmer, away over on the right, or Schofield as far to 
the left, might have had a severe battle ; he might have 
lost two or three thousand men ; yet the story was passed 
over as unimportant. It would not affect the general 
result, and the corps which had come to grief, would 
make up for it to-morrow or the day after. But after 
every story, probable and improbable, had been told, 
and commented upon ; and after the men had exhausted 
their ideas with reference to the immediate future, all 
would agree that nobody knew anything about it, 
except " Uncle Billy," and that he was a " long-headed 
cuss" who "would work it out all right." Fertile sub- 
jects for discussion at these veritable camp-fires were 
the occurrences on the skirmish-line, the men who had 
just come in, leading off, narrating with remarkable 



ON THE LINES. 



117 



vividness, and more vigor of expression than could be 
permitted in these pages, every incident of the day. 

" Between deals " the good and the bad traits of 
those who had " turned up their toes," as the boys 
expressed it, were discussed with remarkable freedom, 
and the old adage, " de mortuis nil nisi bonum" was 
set at utter defiance. If, as sometimes happened, a 
soldier had been killed near the skirmish-line while 
looking on, it was unanimously voted that he was "a 

fool," and " it served him right," — there were 

opportunities enough for a man to be killed while in 
the strict line of duty, without poking around where he 
had no business. Not that these men were heartless, 
but they regarded death as a necessary and familiar 
incident to soldiering, and they had grown into the 
habit of putting the best face upon their surroundings. 
It would have been a spiritless army if the troops had 
gone into mourning over every comrade lost. 

At intervals, in the line of battle, on little spurs, 
were redoubts occupied by the field batteries. These 
were favorite resorts of the general officers, present- 
ing favorable opportunities for reconnoitering the 
enemy's lines. Often a corps commander with his staff, 
and the division and brigade commanders, came to 
such places on this errand, and their presence invari- 
ably attracted a considerable number of soldiers, 
curious to know the meaning of such a gathering. 
Such an unusual throng could not fail to attract the 



118 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



attention of the enemy, and his batteries would open a 
fierce fire, driving all but the gunners to shelter. A 
laughable circumstance occurred at one such time in 
the vicinity of Spear's Fifteenth Ohio Battery. A 
wagon loaded with intrenching tools belonging to the 
Pioneer Corps, was covered with darkies, curiously 
looking on, when a solid shot plumped into the vehicle, 
and there was an irruption of picks, spades and " Con- 
trabands," as if they had been vomited out of a vol- 
cano. The darkies reached solid ground almost be- 
fore the tools had ceased to fly, and " lit out for tall 
timber " at an astonishing gait. 

Artillery duels were of daily occurrence, and some 
splendid practice was done. Clayton's First Minne- 
sota Battery of Rodman guns was particularly effi- 
cient, having gunners whose fire was as true to the 
mark, as that of a good rifleman. The range of these 
splendid guns was marvelous. In a trial between this 
battery and one of Parrott guns, belonging to Oster- 
haus' division of Logan's Corps, the former pitched 
shells entirely over Kenesaw Mountain, while the 
latter barely reached the summit. 

A well known figure during these events was that 
of Mr. Davis, the skillful artist of Harper's Weekly, 
who was on the ground making sketches for that jour- 
nal. He was frequently under fire, but his work at 
such times bore little resemblance to the actual scenes 



ON THE LINES. 



121 



he intended to depict. He merely outlined the 
ground and positions, and then filled in guns and 
troops from memory, when and where he could work 
with less strain upon the nerves. 



122 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA* 



CHAPTEE XI. 



BEFORE KENESAW. 




/ AIN fell daily for almost two 
weeks from the time the 
army went into line near 
Big Shanty. The roads 
became quagmires, and 
the movement of artillery 
and supply trains was all 
but impossible. The effect 
upon the men, almost 
shelterless, and subsisting 
on short rations of hard tack, pork and coffee, was 
most depressing ; yet operations were not suffered to 
lag, and there was continuous skirmishing. As a mat- 
ter of fact, the excitement of the conflict was a neces- 
sity from a sanitary standpoint. Suffering from 
inclement weather, and illy provisioned, as the men 
were, inaction would have begotten disease and death; 
action was health and vigor. 

June 14th, an unusual gathering was seen upon 
the summit of Pine Mountain. The Union forces, 
supposing it to be a party reconnoitering their lines, 



BEFORE KENESAW. 



123 



opened a sharp artillery fire, dispersing the group on 
the instant. A few minutes later, the enemy's signal 
flags were unusually active, and one of Sherman's 
signal officers, who had deciphered their code, read 
their message, which said that General Polk had been 
killed during the cannonading. Polk was a corps 
commander, and also a bishop in the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church. It was charged by the enemy at the 
time, that the fatal missile was discharged from a gun 
aimed by General Sherman in person, with a full 
knowledge of his identity. It was an absurd state- 
ment to make, and manifestly false. There was much 
controversy between various batteries, which claimed 
to have caused his death, among them being Spear's 
Fifteenth Ohio Battery, attached to Gresham's division 
of the Seventeenth Corps. The point at issue was 
never definitely settled, but General Sherman ex- 
pressed an opinion favorable to the claims of a battery 
belonging to General Howard's Fourth Corps. 

The next day, June loth, was one of great activity 
all along the entire front of the army, General Sher- 
man having ordered a general advance, with the inten- 
tion of breaking the enemy's lines at any point where 
a weak spot might be discovered. 

At nine o'clock in the morning, the Union artillery 
opened a fierce fire, eliciting no reply until two hours 
later, when answering volleys were returned. The 
shells from the rebel batteries rendered the headquar- 



124 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



ters of Gresham's division uninhabitable, so tents 
were struck and the wagons sent to the rear, while the 
general and staff made their quarters for the time in a 
redoubt occupied by Spear's Fifteenth Ohio Battery. 
This location was not more comfortable, but one 
from which all the movements in front might be 
viewed. Artillery firing and sharp skirmishing were 
kept up by both lines, and at one time a gallant 
charge was made by Gresham's division, and two lines 
of the enemy's rifle pits were taken. 

To the left of Gresham's division was Leggett's, 
which was the extreme left of the army. The latter 
command overlapped the enemy's front, and Force's 
brigade made a splendid charge, gaining the rebel 
rear, capturing an Alabama regiment entire, and com- 
pelling the enemy to re-arrange his lines with con- 
siderable loss of ground. Thomas and Schofield were 
equally successful on the right; and, as another result 
of the operations during the day, the enemy was 
obliged to abandon Pine Mountain, drawing in his 
forces to Lost Mountain. This, with Kenesaw and 
the connecting heavily timbered ridge, became his 
new line, which was semi-circular, its concavity being 
presented to the Union army. 

The next day, June 16th, a further advance was 
made; and, as a consequence, the enemy was obliged 
to abandon Lost Mountain. His position was now 
Kenesaw Mountain, and its heavily timbered flanks; 



BEFORE KEXESAW. 



125 



but this effectually covered the town of Marietta, pro- 
tected the railroad behind the mountain, and covered 
all avenues to the Chattahoochee river. 

June 17th and 18th, the rain again descended in 
torrents, flooding the country, rendering the roads 
worse than before, if it were possible, and drenching 
the illy-sheltered troops to the skin. Notwithstand- 
ing these discouragements, the Union lines were 
pushed up closer against Kenesaw, a little each day, 
Blair's Seventeenth Corps and Logan's Fifteenth 
Corps making the greater progress. 

Skirmishing continued in a desultory way, the 
monotony being at times relieved by artillery duel- 
ing, until June 27th, when a determined assault was 
made upon the enemy's lines. This was the severest 
engagement thus far in the campaign. To the Army 
of the Tennessee was assigned the task of gaining a 
foothold at the break in the mountain — the point 
which marked the distinction between " Little Kene- 
saw" and "Big Kenesaw" — and the brunt of this 
attack fell upon Morgan L. Smith's division of the 
Fifteenth Corps. The remainder of this command 
and Blair's Seventeenth Corps supported the move- 
ment. 

Early after breakfast, the troops were formed for 
the attack, concealed as much as possible by the 
timber. At eight o'clock, three guns, upon an emi- 
nence near the center, gave the signal for the advance, 



126 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



and Smith's assaulting column dashed from under 
coyer. As soon as the troops emerged from their 
shelter, the enemy's batteries opened upon them with 
grape and canister, and oyer their heads the Union 
gunners poured answering Volleys. The very ground 
shook with the tremendous concussions, and every 
known missile of death hurtled through the air. On 
went the Blue lines at a keen run, passing beyond the 
rifle pits of their own skirmishers, and entering upon 
the border land of the yalley of the shadow of death. 
Still on they pressed, at a rapid pace, firing scarcely a 
shot, reserving ail their energies for the supreme 
effort. They ran oyer the rifle pits of the enemy's 
skirmishers without a thought of the fleeing occu- 
pants. Their goal was fiye hundred yards farther on. 
And then, from the light red line of earth, which held 
a concealed foe, came a storm of lead, which, united 
with the volleys of artillery on either flank, bore down 
countless scores. At every pace of their magnificent 
advance, men dropped, mangled or dead. None 
stopped to see who had fallen — looking neither to the 
right or left, they instinctively sought each other's 
side, closing up the gaps, and continually shortening 
the line, but resolutely pressing on. The only instinct 
left alive was that of destruction. And now they came 
upon the abattis in front of the enemy's position, 
reaching up the steep ascent of the foothill of Kene- 
saw Mountain. No line could be preserved here. The 



BEFORE KENESAW. 127 

obstructions were more fatal to military formation 
than iron or lead. The men tore through, climbing 
over or under the entangling tree-tops and twisted 
vines as best they could. It was slow and painful 
work. And now from front and flanks came a fire of 
musketry, tenfold fiercer than before, and every missile 
that artillery could throw. The lines were irretriev- 
ably crushed, and the men sought such shelter as the 
ground afforded, afterward falling back and occupying 
the enemy's late skirmish line. 

Assaults were also made by Thomas and Schofield, 
and all failed. The result was another chapter in the 
lesson of war which the army, from general to private, 
was learning. The direct assault upon heavily 
fortified lines was to become almost a memory of the 
past. It was founded upon the old traditions of 
warfare in the days of rude short-range arms, when a 
dense charging column might advance with impunity 
near to an enemy, and bear him down by sheer force 
of numbers and momentum, before he could deliver an 
effective fire. Improved small arms of long range, 
and well served artillery, firing shell, grape, and 
canister, rendered obsolete such columns of attack. 

General Sherman, however, successfully defended 
the experiment. 4 6 All looked to me," he said, "to 
'outflank.' An army, to be efficient, must not settle 
down to one single mode of offense, but must be pre- 
pared to execute any plan which promises success." 



128 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



He feared that such constant fighting behind 
entrenchments, even frail as they were, would beget a 
timidity that would cause the troops to fail him at 
some critical moment when a decisive aggressive 
movement was necessary; he also hoped that the 
assault might be successful, arguing that strength of 
position sometimes made defenders negligent, and an 
easy prey to a determined onset. 

The Union loss in this engagement was two 
thousand five hundred men. The enemy, fighting 
from behind cover, lost not more than one-third as 
many, The operations for the month practically closed 
here. Sherman had lost seven thousand five hundred 
men, and Johnston nearly six thousand. 

The Union troops suffered great privations during 
this time. The weather was horrible, heavy rains 
being of almost daily occurrence, making the move- 
ment of wagon-trains extremely difficult. This of 
itself was a sufficient obstacle to feeding the army; 
but the difficulty of procuring supplies was aggrava- 
ted by the raids made by rebel cavalry upon the 
railroad to the north. A journal kept by the author, 
notes that "the railroad has been broken so much of 
late that, with the utmost endeavor, it is only able to 
supply bread, meat, coffee, and ammunition. The 
men are even cautioned to be sparing of cartridges. 
No soap is to be had; the men have no clothing 
except that upon their persons, and there is great 



BEFOEE KENESAW. 



129 



suffering on account of vermin." June 30th was a 
red-letter day, the journal for that date noting that 
" an issue of soap was made, and the troops had an 
opportunity to wash their clothes." The scarcity 
of tobacco was a serious hardship to many; some 
experimented, in a persistent but unsatisfactory way, 
with dried coffee-grounds smoked in pipes as a sub- 
stitute. One ardent lover of the weed considered 
himself highly favored in securing a one pound bale 
of smoking tobacco in return for a five dollar bill. 

It was during the closing days of the month that 
newspapers from the North found their way into camp, 
an unusual incident, for there were no news-venders 
with this army. These papers contained information of 
the renomination of President Lincoln, an event which 
the troops hailed with great satisfaction, as being an 
emphatic rebuke to the so-called peace-proposition 
policy strongly urged at the North, and a full 
assurance of the vigorous prosecution of the Avar to a 
successful issue; while the Illinois soldiers were 
doubly joyful to learn of the nomination of General 
Richard J. Oglesby for Governor. He was a gallant 
soldier, who had been severely wounded at Corinth; 
and, besides, a plain man of the people, whom all 
loved. 

Notwithstanding the great hardships of the cam- 
paign, the end of June found the troops in excellent 
spirits, and in every way well prepared for farther 
hard service. Q 



130 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

THE RACE FOR THE CHATTAHOOCHEE. 



> now Sherman, convinced 
of the futility of attempt- 
ing such an impregnable 
position as Kenesaw in 
front, again called into 
requisition his peculiar 
talent for " flanking;" 
which, in other words, 
was accomplishing suc- 
cessfully by means of brains, ends which many a 
commander would have failed to reach with much 
loss of life. Not that Sherman's maneuvers were 
bloodless, but he reduced the loss of life to a min- 
imum. 

He determined again to leave his railroad com- 
munications for the time, and make a detour, placing 
himself on the Chattahoochee river between Atlanta 
and Kenesaw, thus compelling his adversary to aban- 
don his works, in order to avoid being cut off from 
the Confederacy. The wagon trains were filled with 




THE RACE FOR THE CHATTAHOOCHEE. 131 

hard bread, meat, coffee and ammunition; while the 
rations issued were reduced to the lowest limit, to 
guard against absolute starvation, in the event of 
pending operations being protracted beyond the time 
hoped for. 

The Army of the Tennessee, under General Mc- 
Pherson, occupied the extreme left, and was to march 
first, having the greatest distance to travel. Pending 
its movement, its trenches were occupied by dismounted 
cavalry, armed with seven-shooters, and able to make 
as much noise as the infantry, which had ordinarily 
occupied these lines. Every precaution was taken to 
order the movement so that no intimation of it could 
be gained by the enemy occupying the overhanging 
mountain. The march was to begin July 2d; the 
day previous, the enemy displayed a white flag and 
proposed a truce, to permit the burial of the dead on 
either side, who had already lain upon the field for 
forty-eight hours. But even this was refused, lest in 
some manner the plan might be exposed. At ten 
o'clock of the night designated the grand movement 
was begun. 

Who that made that night march will ever forget 
the weirdness of the spectacle, the strangeness of his 
sensations? Without note of bugle or roll of 
drum the sleeping army was roused from its slumbers. 
Secresy was the watchword of the hour. Artillery 
and wagons moved with muffled wheels. Then out 



132 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

into intense darkness advanced the silent hosts. From 
the side of the road the moving column might be felt, 
but it could not be seen. The army literally walked 
by faith, each man following in the steps of one he 
believed to be in advance of him. The ground, 
sodden with heavy rains, gave no sound of foot or 
hoof, and feet and wheels rapidly converted the road- 
way into a sea of mud. 

Now the troops " string out" in the darkness until 
they reach over three times their ordinary ground, 
even in marching order. The ranks are not compact 
and well dressed ; each man goes as he pleases. 
The head of column halts on account of some obstacle, 
and those in the rear, not knowing what has occurred, 
" close up" on their comrades in front, and collide in 
the darkness. Then is heard angry dialogue, the men 
being forgetful of all injunctions to silence. "Why 

the don't you keep up?" "What the are 

you running over me for?" " Hold up your gun, 

and keep it out of my eye! " " your eye! " and 

so on, with countless variations. Then one finds him- 
self anchored to the ground by the depth and consist- 
ency of the mud; and, while endeavoring to extricate 
himself, those hurrying on from behind stumble over 
him in the darkness, until a score or more of men are 
piled on top of one another, before the word "ease 
up " can be passed back. 

Oh! the profanity of that night march! The 



THE RACE FOR THE CHATTAHOOCHEE. 133 

objurgatory division of the mother-tongue stood re- 
vealed in all its elaborateness and comprehensiveness; 
and yet, reinforced as it was by copious selections 
from foreign languages, it proved utterly inadequate 
for such an emergency. Oaths of the most intricate 
construction and far-reaching meaning were thrown 
upon the midnight air, with a vehemence which left no 
doubt as to the sincerity of the swearer. He damned 
all things, visible and invisible, known, unknown and 
unknowable. The United States and the " Confed- 
eracy " were alike relegated, side by side, to the grim 
sulphurous shades of the forever cursed; then the 
swearer wished that Sherman and Johnston were both 
in hadean regions "to fight it out themselves;" and 
further expressed the conviction that it would be com- 
parative bliss to be there himself. Nor was the 
swearing spasmodic and occasional, but persistent and 
unanimous. 

Shortly after midnight, a great blaze of light burst 
from Kenesaw, and then it was known that the enemy 
was also in motion toward the Chattahoochee! Sher- 
man had found as wily a strategist as himself. John- 
ston knew by intuition what the movement of his 
antagonist would be — it was the step he himself would 
have taken if similarly situated, and he hastened to 
anticipate it. 

There was no longer reason for concealment; nor 
was it even attempted ; and now, at intervals along the 



134 



MAKCHING THBOUGH GEOEGIA. 



column of Union troops, bine lights were burned to 
guide their quickening steps. The scene thus revealed 
can scarcely be imagined, and but faintly described. 
Victor Hugo would have revelled in the spectacle. 
Dore might have sketched it, and called it " A Night 
in Hell!" 

In relief, against the awful black background of 
mountain and forest, stood revealed, in an instant, 
hosts of moving men in tattered and travel-worn 
uniforms ; not marching with precision as if on parade 
or review, but plodding along irregularly, each man 
as best he could. They carried their arms in every 
possible position. Their countenances were ghastly 
in the unnatural glare. Here were faces of dogged 
determination, of uncomplaining patience, of hopeless 
weariness. Many wore patches and bandages about 
the head to cover wounds, and others limped pain- 
fully. At intervals, from unusual elevations, the 
glare of light threw the distorted and exaggerated 
images of the moving host in bold relief against a 
leaden sky — an army of phantom giants marching in 
air! 

Plodding wearily, yet rapidly along, passing by 
the Twentieth, Fourteenth and Fourth Corps, the 
Army of the Tennessee reached Schofield's corps, the 
extreme right of the army. It was now 3arly morn- 
ing of the 3d. Halting only long enough to make 
coffee, the troops again pressed on to Nickajack ^reek, 



THE RACE FOR THE CHATTAHOOCHEE. 135 

six miles from where it empties into the Chattahoo- 
chee river, and sixteen miles from Atlanta. The 
night's march had been upward of twenty miles. 
Here the progress of the troops was arrested,, and the 
skirmish line was again deployed. The enemy was 
immediately in front. 

Sherman had hoped to deliver a blow while his 
enemy was crossing the Chattahoochee river; and he 
confessed to a feeling of disappointment on discover- 
ing that Johnston had previously prepared works on 
the north side of that stream, and along the Nicka- 
jack, and now occupied them in force, with every 
appearance of making a stand. 

The Army of the Tennessee held the right flank 
of the Union army, extending along Nickajack creek. 
Gallant charges were made at various times, and con- 
siderable ground gained, by Logan's, Dodge's and 
Blair's corps. In the movement by Gresham's divi- 
sion, the latter command was led by Colonel Logan's 
32d Illinois Regiment, under the eye of the division 
commander. In this affair the regiment suffered 
severely; among its dead was Private Doty, who was 
killed by the concussion of an exploding shell. Not a 
bruise was found on his body, nor was a drop of blood 
started. 

July 8th, the enemy made a vigorous but unsuc- 
cessful assault, endeavoring to regain the works of 
which they had been dispossessed. 



136 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



The only information received by the troops from 
the outer world, during these operations, was through 
the medium of Atlanta papers, and these contained 
very little of what might be really called news. The 
fire-eating class of editors was not yet extinct, and 
little was to be found in their journals except boasting 
of the achievements of their own troops, and slanders 
at the expense of their enemy. One issue of The Ap- 
peal spoke contemptuously of " Sherman and his great 
raiding party," attributing their spirit in battle to 
plentiful potations of whisky, and prophesying that 
their " Dutch courage" would ooze out when 
Wheeler's cavalry should succeed, as they surely 
would, in breaking the railroad to the North, thus 
cutting off the liquor supply. The abandonment of 
Kenesaw Mountain, by Johnston, was referred to as a 
fine exhibition of " strategy," which would lead Sher- 
man to certain destruction. The Union troops were 
accused of unusual inhumanity. The Appeal said 
that, on one occasion, when a flag of truce was dis- 
played by them after a severe skirmish, the question 
was asked by a confederate officer : " What do you 
want? To bury the dead?" To which the reply 

was: "Dead be ! We want to trade for 

tobacco ! " The news from the North was very 
meagre, the Southern journals being only able to 
reprint from such Northern papers as fell into their 
hands in the East, or were occasionally brought within 
their lines by citizens from Memphis and Vicksburg. 



BEFORE ATLANTA. 



137^ 



CHAPTEE XIII. 



BEFORE ATLANTA. 




TING on opposite banks of the Chat- 
tahoochee river, Blue and 
% Gray again confronted each 
other. The Army of the Ten- 
nessee had worked its way down 
Nickajack creek to its mouth, 
and was exchanging shots with the enemy across 
the stream, while Cox's command had made a lodg- 
ment on the river farther to the left ; meanwhile 
Johnston had crossed his army to the Atlanta side 
the Chattahoochee. The tactical history of the 
campaign by which Sherman forced his adversary to 
again retreat, is not necessary to this narrative. The 
next problem was to force a passage of the stream. 

After several days had been spent in demonstrating 
upon Turner's Ferry, the Army of the Tennessee was 
assigned to its old familiar task of passing from one 
flank to the other. At two o'clock on the morning of 
the 16th it marched northward, and at dawn halted at 
Marietta, behind Kenesaw Mountain, nearly twenty 



138 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA,, 



miles north from Turner's Ferry, whence it started. 
On the 18th, the command reached Eoswell, on the 
Chattahoochee river, twenty miles northeast from 
Marietta. Here had been located large cotton mills, 
managed by persons who claimed the protection of the 
French flag, which was displayed with great assur- 
ance. It was notorious, however, that the establish- 
ment was conducted in the interests of the " Confed- 
eracy," manufacturing cloth for the rebel army; and a 
cavalry force under General Garrard had, a few days 
before, destroyed the property in spite of the remon- 
strances of the ostensible foreign proprietors. Gen- 
eral Garrard made a very full report of the affair, 
enclosing with it the owners' protest and claim for 
French protection, whereupon General Sherman wrote 
him : " Your report is most acceptable a I will see as 
to any man in America hoisting the French flag, then 
devoting his labor and capital to supplying armies in 
open hostility to our government, claiming the benefit 
of his neutral flag. Should you, under the impulse of 
anger, natural at contemplating such perfidy, hang the 
wretch, I approve the act beforehand." A large num- 
ber of the female operatives gladly availed themselves 
of an offer to be sent North, where " white wheat 
bread and a dollar a day" were to be had. Most of 
them eventually arrived in Indiana, and found employ- 
ment in factories. 

On the 19th, the Army of the Tennessee crossed 



BEFOKE ATLANTA. 



139 



the river at Roswell, and established itself firmly on 
the south bank. The next day it passed through 
Decatur, marching directly toward Atlanta. At this 
place were found several hundred pikes — iron blades 
mounted on poles about nine feet long — with which 
the enemy had promised to do great execution at close 
quarters. These remarkable weapons were never seen 
in action, being as useless implements of war as the 
magnified bowie-knives (" corn-cutters," as they were 
called, ) of Fort Donelson days. 

Here the Union forces learned that the Confederate 
government had retired Johnston, appointing Hood 
to command of the army which had so long opposed 
them. Johnston was a fine strategist, and had so con- 
ducted his retreat as practically to lose nothing from 
Chattanooga to Atlanta, except the territory he had 
been obliged to abandon, and the men killed, wounded, 
or captured in action; he had scarcely lost a straggler, 
or so much of his equipage as a tin-plate. But he had 
not succeeded in checking the much dreaded Sherman 
and his vandal cohorts. The " Confederacy" wanted 
"a soldier who would fight." There was a camp 
story to the effect that, on receiving the news of 
Hood superseding Johnston, General Sherman called 
a council of officers, who had known the new Con- 
federate commander personally, in order to learn some- 
thing of his character. Several officers, who had 
been classmates with General Hood at West Point, ex- 



140 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



pressed themselves in various ways, pertinent and 
otherwise ; but the climax was reached when an old 
Kentucky colonel remarked that he " Seed Hood bet 
twenty-five hundred dollars, with nary a p'ar in his 
hand!" This anecdote convinced all that such an 
exhibition of nerve was good evidence of the fighting 
qualities of the new commander. However this may 
be, General Sherman was satisfied that the change of 
commanders betokened more vigorous measures, and 
made his dispositions accordingly, sending notice of 
the fact to every part of the army, and notifying his 
subordinates to. be prepared, at all times, for sharp 
and unexpected battle. The troops grasped the im- 
port of Hood's appointment with as quick intelligence 
as the officers, and expressed great satisfaction with 
the assignment, regarding Hood as a hot-headed 
fellow, who would butt his brains out against their 
entrenchments, thus shortening the campaign and the 
war. 

July 20th, the Union army pressed on toward 
Atlanta, the Army of the Tennessee occupying the left 
flank on the line of the Augusta railroad. The enemy 
was driven handsomely for two miles, without great 
resistance. The attack was resumed next day, and 
two lines of rifle-pits taken, almost at the point of the 
bayonet. In these operations, Gresham's division of 
Blair's Seventeenth Corps lost five hundred and 



BEFORE ATLANTA. 



141 



twenty-five killed and wounded — an extremely large 
proportion of its strength. 

It was on the first of these two days, July 20th, 
that General Gresham received a serious wound, 
which not only retired him from active service 
altogether, but deprived him of the opportunity of 
winning great personal distinction ; besides, it was 
indirectly the cause of immense loss to the Union 
army. Had he not been wounded, in all human 
probability Atlanta would have fallen into his hands 
that day; the bloody battle which was fought on that 
very ground tAvo days later, would have no place in 
history, and McPherson might have been spared a 
glorious but needless death. 

General Gresham' s division, holding the extreme 
left of the army, advanced in splendid order, driving 
before it a strong cavalry force. The General had 
left his horse at the foot of a slight hill, and ascended 
the slope, occupied by his skirmishers, to reconnoiter 
the enemy's lines, which were posted on an emi- 
nence now known in history as Leggett's Hill, the key 
to the position of the Union army during the battle 
of July 22nd. It was evident to him that he was well 
on the enemy's flank, and he was making his disposi- 
tions to take advantage of the opportunity, when the 
rebel skirmishers opened a sharp fire. His aide, 
Captain Duncan, received a score of bullets through 
his clothes, but escaped injury; the General fell, 



142 



MABCHINGr THKOTJGH GEOKGIA. 



pierced in the thigh by a rifle-ball, and was at once 
removed to the rear. During the confusion incident 
to this untoward disaster, and the assignment of 
another officer to the command, a strong division of 
Hood's infantry was hurried to Leggett's Hill, and 
the magnificent opportunity was lost. 

General Gresham's injury was so serious that he 
had hard work to save his leg from the surgeons, who 
seemed determined to saw it off; but he was full 
of pluck, and stoutly insisted that this should not be 
done. Some days later he was sent to his home at 
New Albany, Indiana, and thus ended his service in 
the field 



BEFOEE ATLANTA. 



145 



OHAPTEB M¥, 




4 FAMOUS jDOT&IOSL 

\ENTION made of the Fourth Division 
of the Seventeenth Corps, in the 
preceding chapter, recalls some- 
what more of its phenomenal his- 
tory, and the unusual career of its 
commanders. Of the six generals who 
lad it from first to last, two became members of 
the President's cabinet, one of this number holding, 
at different times, the portfolios of the Post-Office 
and Treasury Department, and becoming recognized 
at a later day as a probable candidate for the Presi- 
dency. Another was an assistant to a cabinet minister, 
while a fourth held an important appointment in the 
diplomatic service. The remaining two died before 
the war ended. Of the entire number, the two ex- 
cabinet members alone survive. 

This command, under General Stephen A. Hurlbut, 
was the Fourth Division of the original Army of the 
Tennessee, as that body was constituted at Shiloh, 
where it first went into line in its entirety. In that 
10 



146 



MAECHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



desperate action it sustained a glorious part, and its 
list of killed and wounded was one-fifth of the 
casualties of the entire army, six divisions in all. It 
bore a full share in the siege of Corinth, which 
followed. At a later day, it fought and won the battle 
of the Hatchie, which General Hurlbut made the 
occasion for issuing a congratulatory order, wherein 
he said: 64 The title of 'Fighting Fourth,' won at 
Shiloh, has been burnished with additional splendor." 

Shortly before this, the Fifth Division, which had 
been an elbow-to-elbow companion from the outset, 
was sent to duty in another field, and its commander, 
General "William T. Sherman, wrote the following 
letter, which is quoted as showing the estimation in 
which he held General Hurlbut' s command: 

Headquarters, 5th Div., Army of the Tennessee, 

Memphis, Tenn., Sept. 6, 1862. 

Brig. Gen. S. A. Hurlbut, Commanding Fourth Division, Army 
of the Tennessee : 

Dear Sir : Permit me through you to convey to the officers and 
men of your division an expression of my deep regret that the necessities 
of the public service, should at this time separate our commands. Our 
divisions were the first to disembark at Pittsburg Landing in the early 
part of March, and through storm and sunshine, adverse and prosperous 
times, we have been side by side. Not only have social ties arisen 
between us, but the habit of acting together has made us as one 
command, and I feel at parting with you as if my own division was 
divided. I need not express to you the assurance of my high personal 
and official respect, for I hope I have evinced it on many and all 
occasions. For Generals Lauman and Veatch, I must say that no 
officers could have been more zealous, close, and attentive to their impor- 
tant duties than they have ever been. I can not recall an instance of 
their having been away from their posts* for even an hour. To them I 
predict an honorable and brilliant future. Indeed, with very few excep- 



A FAMOUS DIVISION. 



147 



tions, your division is composed of a class of steady, good men, who by 
their behavior in camp, on guard, on the march, and in battle, reflect 
honor and credit on themselves and their country. Be pleased to convey 
to all my hearty thanks, and assure them that I will hail the change in 
events that will bring us again together. 

With sentiments of high respect, your friend and servant, 

W. T. Sherman, 

Major General. 

Hurlbut's division was a part of the army with 
which General Grant marched into Mississippi, in his 
effort to reach the rear of Vicksburg, in the winter of 
1862, returning soon afterward to the line of the 
Memphis and Charleston railroad. Upon the organiza- 
tion of corps cVarmee, this division became the Fourth 
of the Sixteenth Corps, and General J. G. Lauman 
was assigned to the command, General Hurlbut hav- 
ing been made a major general and corps commander. 
It participated in the siege of Vicksburg, and, the 
next day after the surrender of that famous stronghold, 
marched with other troops to attack General Johnston 
at Jackson. In the action at that place it made a bril- 
liant but disastrous charge, and sustained great loss. 
The responsibility was charged upon General Lauman, 
and he was relieved of his command. He returned to 
his home in Iowa, and died shortly afterward of a 
broken heart, if ever man so died. He was an officer 
of tried courage, and a man of fine personal traits. 

General Lauman was succeeded by General Mar- 
cellus M. Crocker, of Iowa, and the division became a 
part of the Seventeenth Corps, retaining the same 
numerical designation. Some time afterward, sev- 



148 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



eral of the old regiments were transferred to other 
commands, and their place was taken by the "Iowa 
Brigade," a magnificent body of men, formerly com- 
manded by the same officer who now became their 
division general. These troops, with the 32d Illinois 
Begiment, which had belonged to the old Fourth 
Division from the beginning, now constituted the 
Third Brigade. 

General Crocker was an officer of superior ability, 
great personal courage and determination, and a 
man of irascible temper. It is due to his memory 
to say that his irritability was, in large measure, due 
to his physical condition, for he was a great sufferer 
from asthma ; while his anger was rarely bestowed un- 
deservedly. But his rage, when once aroused, was 
something frightful. Upon one occasion he called a 
careless regimental commander to account. The 
latter answered in an insolent way, whereupon the 
general threatened him with ball and chain, and a 
passage from Natchez to Cairo in the hold of a steam- 
boat. He would doubtless have experienced this treat- 
ment had he not hastened to tender proper apologies, 
and made profuse promises of future good behavior. 
In another instance, a wealthy planter, living in the 
vicinity of Natchez, came to General Crocker, then 
commanding the district, and applied for a permit 
to ship a large quantity of cotton to the North. 
This commodity then commanded an extravagant 



A FAMOUS DIVISION. 



149 



price, and there were officers of no small rank who 
stood accused of conniving with rebel owners to place 
it on the market, and divide the proceeds. General 
Crocker was a man of mean fortune, but of incor- 
ruptible integrity. 

" Tou can ship your cotton, sir," said he, address- 
ing the citizen, " under the regulations of the 
Treasury Department. Tou must furnish proof of 
loyalty, and subscribe to the oath of allegiance." 

"But, General," was the response," I can not take 
the oath. My government — " 

"What government, sir?" angrily asked Crocker. 

" The Confederate—" 

The enraged general allowed the rebel to proceed 
no further. 

"You infamous scoundrel ! You come 

here to ask favors of me, and talk about your govern- 
ment ! Get out of my office, and be thankful you get 
out alive ! " 

" But, General, I can make it to your advan- 
tage—" 

This was the last irritant. The enraged general 
had the fellow speedily ejected, but the end was not 
yet. General Crocker sent for his engineer officer. 

" Captain," said he, when that officer had appeared, 

"that rebel, , has been here talking 

about his loyalty to his government, and offering me 
money to let him ship his cotton North. "We can't 



150 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



hold this place without works, and I want yon to lay 
out a line, and plant a fort on the very foundations of 
his house ! " 

Forty-eight hours later, the home of the indis- 
creet rebel, just at the outskirts of the city, was razed 
to the ground, and a battery of artillery planted on 
the ruins of what, shortly before, was one of the 
handsomest residences in the South. 

Early in 1864, General Crocker's division took its 
veteran furlough, and then rendezvoused at Cairo, 
preliminary to taking part in the Atlanta campaign. 
Soon after the movement began, the general's health 
failed utterly, and he returned to his home in Iowa, 
where he died not long afterward. 

General Walter Q. Gresham, who had commanded 
a brigade under Crocker, succeeded to the vacant 
command. One anecdote always leads to another, 
and mention of the latter officer recalls one of the 
former. 

At Natchez, in October of 1863, General Gresham 
was post-commander. He was detached from his 
brigade, and had only a handful of troops for pro- 
vost guard duty, making necessary, when an emer- 
gency arose calling for additional force, a requisition 
upon General Crocker, the district commander, who 
had a large division in the outskirts of the city. 
One bright Sunday morning, a barge loaded with 
forage came from up the river, and required immedi- 



A FAMOUS DIVISION 



151 



ate unloading; whereupon the following correspond- 
ence took place, the originals of which are now in the 
hands of the writer of these pages: 

Post Headquarters, 
Natchez, Miss., Oct. n, 1863. 
General : I have to ask a detail of one commissioned officer and 
fifty enlisted men, to report at these headquarters immediately, for 
fatigue duty- Very respectfully, 

W. Q. Gresham, 

Brig. Gen. Comdg. 
Brig. Gen. M. M. Crocker, Comdg. District. 

To which the following answer was returned: 

Headquarters. District of Natchez, 

Natchez, Miss., Oct. ir, 1863. 
General : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your requisition 
for one commissioned officer and fifty men for fatigue duty to-day. Is 
the detail absolutely necessary ? See order from Executive Mansion [for- 
bidding labor by troops on the Sabbath, except in case of imperative 
necessity — Author] of November 16, 1862 ; also one of the Ten Com- 
mandments. Very respectfully, 

C. Cadle, Jr., A. A. G. 

Brig. Gen. W. Q. Gresham 

To which General Gresham made the following 
reply: 

Post Headquarters, 
Natchez, Miss., Oct. 11, 1863. 
Sir : The order from Executive Mansion of Nov. 12, 1S62, has 
been repeatedly read and duly admired, and will be faithfully observed 
whenever practicable. The "Commandments" referred to are not on 
file in this office. Very respectfully, 

W. Q. Gresham, 

Brig. Gen'l. 

General Gresham' s march from Clifton to Ack- 
worth, and his wounding before Atlanta, have been 



152 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



narrated in previous chapters. He was a gentleman 
of fine mind, and of those gentle and winning ways 
which, made every soldier his friend. He had been 
with the division ever since the days of Skiloh, where 
he was a field officer in an Indiana regiment; and the 
entire command deplored the sad event which unfitted 
him for further service. When General Grant became 
President, General Gresham was appointed a United 
States district judge, from which position he was called 
by President Arthur to become Postmaster General. 
He acted in that capacity but a few months, when he 
was appointed to the Treasury Department. Shortly 
afterward he was recalled to the bench, a position 
much more agreeable to him. 

General Gresham was succeeded in command by 
General Giles A. Smith, a gallant officer, who had 
received a severe wound at Missionary Kidge. When 
the war had practically ended, General Smith was 
assigned to a command on the Rio Grande, where a 
large force had been gathered in anticipation of 
possible foreign complications, growing out of Napo- 
leon's Mexican policy. He served as Second Assist- 
ant Postmaster General under President Grant, and 
died a few years ago in California, whither he went 
seeking renewed health. 

The latest commander of the division was General 
William W. Belknap. He was a man of commanding 
appearance, stoutly and compactly built, and so 



A FAMOUS DIVISION. 



153 



admirably proportioned that neither his height nor 
weight left any unpleasant impression; of fair com- 
plexion, with blue eyes beaming with sympathy and 
good nature; wearing a full long beard, somewhat 
inclined to reddishness, he was a magnificent speci- 
men of the ideal Anglo-Saxon type. He was a man of 
indomitable resolution and great personal courage. 
In the saddle, directing the movements of his com- 
mand, or in his office, dispatching routine business, he 
could be decided, severe, even exacting ; but he knew 
also how to be affable, and in a social way was a most 
admirable gentleman. He was originally major of the 
15th Iowa Regiment, and rose to the colonelcy. In 
the engagement at Nickajack creek, July 5th, he 
attracted special attention by his wise dispositions 
and personal courage; and again, in the battle of 
July 22d, he distinguished himself in a marked man- 
ner. The recommendation for his promotion to the 
grade of brigadier general was made by General Sher- 
man, by telegraph. The appointment was made by 
the President immediately; and it seemed as if all 
joined with their great captain in the verdict that "no 
promotion was ever more fairly made, nor more hon- 
estly earned.'' 5 

Upon General Grant's election to the Presidency, 
at the close of the war, General Belknap was ap- 
pointed Secretary of War. He resigned after a time, 
and is now practicing law before the federal courts in 
Washington. 



154 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XV. 




dies ir^:. 

ULT 22d was a day of dis- 
aster and sorrow. The 
disaster was retrieved. 
The sorrow will endure 
as long as patriotism and 
heroism are honored. 
History has told how Hood 
made his brilliant sally — how 
he twisted up the federal left 
wing — how the gallant McPherson fell, early in the 
battle, and how Logan's inspiring presence gave as- 
surance of final victory ; but it is only from narra- 
tives such as this, however imperfect, from the pen 
of eye - witnesses and participants, that the actual 
events, and the personal heroism of individuals, may 
be known. 

After the action of July 21st, the Army of the 
Tennessee was moved farther to the left, in order to 
keep pace with the enemy's lines, which were being 
extended in that direction. The Fourth Division of 



DIES IR^. 



155 



the Seventeenth Corps, commanded by General Giles 
A. Smith, held the extreme left of the Union army. 
The troops worked hard that night, entrenching their 
position, and so urgent was the necessity for every 
man, that the flank and rear were picketed in part by 
the headquarters guard, who were among the very 
first upon whom fell the enemy's attack the next 
morning. 

Early on the morning of July 22d, General 
Smith's front line was advanced a considerable dis- 
tance, meeting with little opposition: and, inasmuch as 
the enemy was said to be abandoning his position in 
General Thomas' front, General Sherman concluded 
that Atlanta was to be yielded to him without further 
struggle. He was speedily undeceived. Hood had 
merely shifted his army in order to make a desperate 
and almost successful attack from a quarter whence 
danger was scarcely expected. 

About eleven o'clock, sharp firing in the rear of 
the hospital, near Smith's headquarters, gave warning 
of what was to occur. By great effort, the ambu- 
lances containing the wounded and sick, about four 
hundred in number, were driven to the safest place to 
be found, the right and front, just behind the general 
line of battle. The headquarters wagons followed, 
their movement being hastened by the advance of the 
enemy's skirmishers, closely supported by a full line 
of battle, moving over the ground just vacated, en- 



156 



MAKCHING THKOUGH GEOEGIA. 



veloping Smith's flank and rear, and reaching as far 
as Dodge's Sixteenth Corps. As a matter of fact, by 
reason of the inclination of the assaulting line, 
Dodge's command sustained the first attack. His 
troops were marching down the road in column, to 
connect with the Seventeenth Corps. They at once 
halted, faced the foe, and delivered a fire which 
checked the onset almost on the instant. 

General Smith was poorly prepared to meet the 
assault, his rear being presented to the enemy; and 
the attack fell upon him with dreadful force. He 
was fortunate, however, in having on the left of his 
line the brigade of Iowans formerly commanded by 
Crocker, noted for its thorough discipline and incom- 
parable esprit de corps. These troops, already under 
fire, were ordered to the reverse of their works, to 
occupy the side heretofore presented to the enemy. 
This movement was successfully accomplished, except 
by the 16th Iowa Regiment, which, with a two-gun 
battery, was captured, after an heroic struggle. 

The Iowans were assailed in front, as well as rear, 
and upon the flank, and portions of the command 
repeatedly moved over their own works, from side to 
side, to repel attack. So rapid were the movements, 
and so much was crowded into a few hours, that it 
is impossible to gain an entirely correct idea of the 
sequence of events. Cool-headed men, who were 
upon the ground, vary as much as two hours in timing 



DIES IR2E. 



157 



signal circumstances with wliicli they were personally 
concerned ; but discrepancies of this nature are by no 
means peculiar to this battle. 

The works of the Iowans were charged by three 
separate brigades, in succession. Govan's, the first, 
was driven off, taking away with it, however, as pris- 
oners, the 16th Iowa Regiment, as before mentioned. 
Lowry's brigade followed, in a magnificent charge, 
which led to the most desperate fighting of the day, 
but was finally repulsed. The last attack, likewise 
unsuccessful, was made by Smith's brigade, and is not 
particularly noticeable as compared with Lowry's. 

Lowry's assault was courageous and persistent in 
the highest degree. His troops actually reached the 
works of the Iowans, but were unable to surmount 
them. The contending lines were only separated by 
thin earthworks, less than shoulder high, and the 
fighting became desperate and promiscuous. Musket 
clashed against musket, and color-bearers flaunted 
their standards in face of each other. 

As the 15th Iowa Regiment, Colonel (afterward 
General) Belknap commanding, sprang to the reverse 
of their works, they were confronted by the 45th 
Alabama Regiment, whose commander, Colonel 
Lampley, waved s his light felt hat, as he led the 
charge. Colonel Belknap, taking the act to be a 
signal of surrender, ordered his men to cease firing 
(a command heard only by few, owing to the tumult 



158 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



of battle), and, at the same time, beckoned the rebel 
officer to come in. A young soldier by Lampley's side, 
and by his direction, as was plainly to be seen, fired 
three shots at Belknap, but without effect. Mean- 
while the Alabamians advanced nearer and nearer, 
and Belknap discovered that, instead of thinking of 
surrender, they meant fight in bitter earnest. Three 
color-bearers of this one rebel regiment were shot 
down in rapid succession. When the last fell, the 
contending lines were at such close quarters that the 
flag was torn from his dying grasp by a member of 
the 11th Iowa. The trophy was afterward claimed 
by the 15th Iowa soldier w^ho shot down its bearer, 
and it was delivered to him. The Alabamians were 
now at the very foot of the Union works, and to 
deliver a fire upon them it was necessary for the 
Iowans to hold their muskets over the works, almost 
perpendicularly. Belknap jumped upon the parapet 
and again beckoned Lampley to come in. The 
latter shook his head, and urged his men to make 
a final dash. He came nearer, until he was fairly 
against the works. Then Belknap, watching his op- 
portunity, leaned over the parapet, fastened his grasp 
upon Lampley's coat-collar, and, with the aid of a 
corporal near by, dragged him inside. Within a few 
minutes, every Alabamian who was not killed, or lying 
wounded upon the field, was a prisoner. Colonel 
Lampley was found to be wounded, but the injury was 



DIES IR^. 



159 



so slight that his own men ascribed his death, which 
occurred a few days later, to depression at the mis- 
fortune of being captured, rather than to the wound. 

Meanwhile, the battle raged elsewhere on the lines 
of the Iowa brigade with scarcely less fury. At one 
time the colors of four rebel regiments were displayed 
within a stone's throw of the 11th Iowa. The 32d 
Mississippi Regiment all but reached the works, los- 
ing in the attempt one-third their number from a 
single volley of musketry. A soldier of the 11th 
Iowa and a rebel died together in a desperate struggle 
on the top of the defences. Sergeant-Major Safely, of 
the same regiment, with a few comrades, made a sally 
and captured a colonel, captain, and more than their 
own number of privates. An Iowan jumped upon the 
works, swinging his gun over his head, singing " The 
Battle Cry of Freedom," and died, with the unfinished 
words upon his lips. Colonel Jones, commanding the 
53d Indiana, of the right brigade of the same division, 
was wounded, and, while being cauried from the field 
on a litter, was killed by a shell. Chaplain Bennett, 
of the 32cl Ohio Regiment, also of the same division, 
fought through the battle. He was a crack shot, and 
kept a wounded soldier busy loading guns for him. 
The poor fellow was killed at his side. A gallant sig- 
nal officer, in his station in the top of a tree overlook- 
ing Atlanta, was forced to make a precipitate retreat, 
his observatory being demolished by a shell. 



160 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

The opening of this onset by the enemy was the 
occasion of the death of the brave and beloved 
McPherson. 

Between ten and eleven o'clock that fatal morning. 
General McPherson visited a hospital tent, where were 
a number of officers and men of the 16th Iowa Regi- 
ment, who had been wounded in a charge the day 
before. Among them was Captain MeArthur (sub- 
sequently of General Belknap's staff), to whom he 
spoke encouragingly, complimenting him and his 
comrades upon their good conduct the day previous. 
Shortly afterward, the General was seen making some 
dispositions in the vicinity of General Dodge's corps. 
Thence he passed, in full view of many of the troops, 
in the direction of General Blair's position. A man 
of fine personal appearance, always with a most 
amiable expression of countenance, he never looked to 
better advantage. His entire staff had been dis- 
patched on one urgent errand or another, and he was 
attended by a single orderly. Passing along a blind 
road, he disappeared in the dense forest. Hun- 
dreds of soldiers saw him at the moment, but no one 
attached any concern to the incident, for the lines 
were supposed to be well connected. 

A few moments later, a volley of musketry was 
heard in the direction he had taken, and his well- 
known horse, wounded and riderless, dashed rapidly 
to the rear, ^ivino* the first intimation of the dreadful 



DIES IRiE. 



161 



event; and the news that General McPherson was 
killed, or a prisoner, spread rapidly among the troops, 
causing great dismay. 

At a later hour, it was learned that, upon entering 
the forest which was the scene of his death, General 
McPherson suddenly encountered the enemy's skir- 
mishers. In response to the summons to surrender, 
he touched his hat in soldierly salute, and at the same 
time pulled his rein to ride to the rear. A volley of 
musketry was discharged, killing his orderly, and he 
himself fell from his horse, mortally wounded. The 
enemy's line was soon pushed back, and a private 
soldier of the 15th Iowa Regiment, George Reynolds, 
found his dying general prostrate upon the ground, 
and moistened his clammy lips with water from his 
canteen. When assistance came, life was extinct. 
The body was sent to the rear, whence it was con- 
veyed to the old family home in Ohio. The estima- 
tion in which he was held was suitably voiced by 
General Sherman, who, in his report to the Secretary 
of War, said : 

" General McPherson fell in battle, booted and 
spurred, as the gallant and heroic gentleman should 
wish. Not his the loss, but the country's; and the 
army will mourn his death, and cherish his mem- 
ory, as that of one who, though comparatively young, 
had risen, by his merit and ability, to the com- 
mand of one of the best armies which the nation had 
called into existence to vindicate her honor and in- 
ii 



162 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



tegrity. History tells of but few who so blended the 
grace and gentleness of the friend with the dignity, 
courage, faith and manliness of the soldier. His pub- 
lic enemies, even the men who directed the fatal shot, 
never spoke or wrote of him without expressions of 
marked respect. Those whom he commanded loved 
him even to idolatry, and I, his associate and com- 
mander, fail in words adequate to express my opinion 
of his great worth. I feel assured that every patriot 
in America, on hearing this sad news, will feel a sense 
of personal loss, and the country generally will realize 
that we have lost, not only an able military leader, but 
a man who, had he survived, was qualified to heal the 
national strife which had been raised by designing 
and ambitious men." 

A scene of dramatic power occurred when Logan, 
the next in rank, succeeded McPherson in command. 
At all times a man of unusually fine soldierly appear- 
ance, he now became a picture for an artist. Bare- 
headed, flushed with rage, and an instinct to avenge 
the death of his commander and friend, he spurred his 
high-strung black charger to its utmost speed, and 
dashed along the lines of his troops, somewhat dis- 
ordered in places, restoring confidence everywhere by 
his gallant bearing and sharp, assuring words. 
Whether or not he shrieked the words which some 
have attributed to him, " McPherson and Revenge ! " 
is not material; his action spoke them, had his lips 
been silent. What Sheridan was at Winchester, that 
was Logan at Atlanta. His presence itself was an 



dies mm. 



165 



assurance of the triumph shortly to be wrenched from 
a foe who already believed himself the victor. 

Meantime the gap in the Union lines between the 
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, into which the gallant 
McPherson rode, meeting his death, had been occu- 
pied, the first troops to arrive being the 64th Illinois 
Eegiment. This command was fortunately armed with 
the Henry rifle, a sixteen-shooter, and it opened a rapid 
and murderous fire. As it delivered the first volley, 
the enemy's line bent forward, almost halting, as if to 
avoid the deadly discharge, and then rushed forward 
with redoubled speed, seeking to reach and bear down 
the Union troops before they could reload their pieces. 
But, rapidly as lever could be moved and trigger drawn, 
the men of the gallant 64th fired volley after volley, 
and the Gray line staggered, halted, and then fell back, 
leaving behind them their battle-flag and a number of 
prisoners. The placing of this regiment was in obedi- 
ence to the last orders General McPherson ever gave ; 
but their execution came too late to save the life of the 
gallant soldier. From this moment, on to the end, 
although the lines swayed backward in places, and 
the troops at times found it necessary to fight from 
both sides of their works, the general position was 
assured, and the possibility of any overwhelming dis- 
aster averted. 

The battle raged fiercely throughout the day in 
front of the Seventeenth and Fifteenth Corps. How 



166 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

Smith's division fared has been already told. Leg- 
gett's division, of the same corps, had a no less serious 
time. They occupied the hill which was the key to 
the Union position, and only held it by the most des- 
perate courage. At times they were all but cut off 
from the remainder of the army. General Force, one 
of the brigade commanders, was shot through the face, 
and reported as dead, but he recovered in time to 
engage in the "March to the Sea." A large portion 
of the Fifteenth Corps was dislodged from its posi- 
tion, but made a gallant charge and regained its 
ground. 

At nightfall the enemy drew off, crushed and dis- 
pirited. His loss during the day, according to the 
best authorities, was not less than ten thousand, killed, 
wounded, and prisoners. Smith's division of the Seven- 
teenth Corps took three hundred and twenty-six pris- 
oners, including the 45th Alabama regiment, with its 
field and company officers, and five stands of colors. 
Sherman's loss was three thousand five hundred and 
twenty-one men, and of this number Smith's division 
lost one thousand and forty-two men, and the Iowa 
brigade alone lost six hundred and sixty -four. 



THE HISTORY OF A FLAG. 



167 



CHAPTEE XVI. 




THE HISTORY OF A FLAG. 



N the engagement of July 
22d, the 16th Iowa 
Eegiment of the Iowa 
brigade of Smith's di- 
vision, Seventeenth 
Corps, was captured 
bodily. 

The skirmishers of 
this regiment were 
driven in about one 
o'clock in the afternoon. 
The regiment itself, occupying the trenches, was 
ordered by the colonel, Ad. H. Sanders, to withhold 
fire until the word of command. The enemy's columns 
charged forward, until they had nearly approached 
the works. Colonel Sanders said they came within 
fifty yards — the rebel commander said the distance 
was thirty yards. Then the Iowans opened a mur- 
derous fire, and the assaulting force staggered back, 
seemingly annihilated. A second charge was as suc- 
cessfully repulsed, and this time a large part of their 



168 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



force advanced so near that the men could neither go 
farther nor retreat ; they hugged the ground, giving 
and taking a severe fire, which continued for nearly 
a half-hour. They then displayed a white flag and 
asked to be permitted to surrender. This was agreed 
to, and they were ordered to lay down their arms and 
come inside the works as prisoners. The demand was 
complied with, and the captives were found to be the 
2d and 8th Arkansas regiments, with a small body of 
Texans, perhaps seventy-five men. 

Colonel Sanders now held in his rifle-pits, as pris- 
oners, nearly twice the number of his own command. 
)Se had employment for his entire force, making it 
difficult to spare men to take the prisoners away. 
Before he was able to dispose of them, the enemy had 
gained the rear of his line, and he was attacked from 
that direction as well as from the front. In order to 
protect the rear, some of Sanders' men fixed bayonets 
and stood guard over their prisoners, compelling them 
to stand between themselves and the enemy, thus 
silencing the fire from that quarter, while the Iowans 
continued the battle. At this juncture, many of the 
prisoners, who still retained their arms, finding them- 
selves to outnumber their captors, and further em- 
boldened by the persistence of their own troops in 
front, again began to show fight. Colonel Sanders dis- 
armed two of them, when he was surrounded by rebels, 
who pointed their guns at him, demanding his surren- 



THE HISTORY OF A FLAG. 169 

der. He saw that the works to his rear were in pos- 
session of the enemy, whereupon he determined to call 
upon his men to move by the flank and cut their way 
out. The battle then became a melee. A rebel cap- 
tain seized a gun from one of his men, and fired at 
Colonel Sanders, the ball passing between his legs. 
Color-Sergeant Lucas, who had planted his colors in 
the ground, shot the captain on the moment. Lucas 
again took up his colors, and two rebels attempted to 
snatch them away from him, but he held them with a 
firm grasp. A moment later, a rebel struck Lucas over 
the head with his gun, prostrating him upon the 
works, and securing his flag. Meanwhile, a free fight 
with clubbed guns and bayonets raged on all sides. 

The 16th Iowa was now entirely surrounded, and 
with it two companies of the 13th Iowa, who had been 
sent to its assistance. The ammunition of the little 
command was utterly exhausted, and to surrender was 
the only way to escape annihilation. Yielding them- 
selves prisoners, the 16th Iowa were marched within 
the enemy's lines, their captors being, in part, the 
very prisoners they had themselves taken but an hour 
before. 

Nearly twenty years afterward a thrilling scene, 
one without precedent, and a most fitting sequel to 
the deadly struggle before Atlanta, was witnessed at 
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was upon the occasion of the 
reunion of the survivors of Crocker's Iowa Brigade. 



170 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

While Secretary of War, General Belknap (who 
had fought in the Iowa Brigade during the bitter 
struggle which has been described, and a few days 
later wore the star of a brigadier, and succeeded to 
the command,) received from General Govan, com- 
mander of the assaulting forces on that day, a letter in 
which he stated that the flag of the 16th Iowa Regi- 
ment had come into his possession. He expressed his 
desire to return it to the former owners, who, he said, 
"bore it with such conspicuous courage and gallantry 
in my presence on that memorable occasion, and only 
parted with it when to retain it longer was impossible, 
after having done all that could be expected of human 
courage and valor to defend it." General Govan 
added, that when the flag came into his possession, a 
fragment had been torn from it by the storm of bul- 
lets, and the portion wanting had been replaced by 
a part of his own Confederate battle-flag, sewed 
therein by the hands of his wife. In reply, General 
Belknap returned heartfelt thanks to General Govan 
for his magnanimity and soldierly courtesy, and ex- 
tended to him a cordial invitation to attend the 
reunion of the Iowa Brigade, to be held at Cedar 
Rapids, Iowa, September 26th, 1883, and return the 
captured flag in person. 

The invitation was accepted in the same friendly 
spirit in which it was given ; and, in the presence 
of several hundred survivors of the Iowa Brigade, 



THE HISTOEY OF A FLAG. 



171 



and a large concourse of interested spectators, General 
Belknap unrolled the old flag and waved it over his 
head, while all present rose to their feet, and in 
great excitement cheered and cheered until they were 
fairly exhausted; while the veterans who had followed 
the starry symbol so long and through such stirring 
scenes, sobbed and wept with very joy. 

Then, in response to repeated and urgent calls, 
General Govan was invited to the stage, and in a 
voice trembling with emotion, said : 

" Veterans of Crocker's Iowa Brigade : I am 
unable to find words to express the feelings of 
pleasure and satisfaction that I feel in standing before 
you. I feel it a compliment, not only to myself, but 
to every Confederate soldier who served in the war. 
that I am permitted to participate in this reunion. 
They will feel grateful for this honor, and will re- 
spond and return it whenever an opportunity offers. 
I have testified heretofore to the valor of your Iowa 
soldiers in their heroic resistance at Atlanta. And if 
I had said nothing, the long roll of the killed and 
wounded of my command would bear mute but irre- 
sistible testimony of your courage and valor on that 
occasion. In behalf of our ex-soldiers, I beg leave to 
return to you the flag won from you on that memo- 
rable occasion. I trust you will bear it as honorably 
as you did then; and I assure you, should it ever 
again be assailed, the men who opposed you that day 
will stand by you in the future, and vie with you in 
its defense. I hope that flag may float as long as 



172 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the everlasting hills endure, over a free, prosperous, 
happy and united people, as long as the waters flow to 
the great ocean." 

As soon as the applause which greeted this ad- 
dress had died away, Colonel Ad. H. Sanders, the 
commander of the 16th Iowa Regiment, came forward, 
and, with a voice husky with emotion, said : 

"The old flag! Lost, captured, but never disgraced. 
Let those who in solid line, and line massed on line, 
as brave soldiers. Confederates though they were, as 
ever did a soldier's duty, charged and charged again 
on the 16th Iowa, July 22d, 1864, till enemies dead 
and wounded numbered half as many as our men in 
the rifle-pits, and prisoners from their ranks nearly 
doubled our whole number; let them say, whether in 
the final capture of this flag, they thought in the hour 
of their triumph it had been disgraced by our defense, 
or their victory. They know, because they were 
there, and it was a sad and awful place for brave men 
to be, whether thirsting for glory or hungering for 
that flag. Only the day before, sixty-five men of the 
16th Iowa fell in a charge on rebel works, with these 
same colors waving, at their front. Was the old flag, 
with all its record of victories, and never a defeat, the 
very next day to be trailed in the dust, without a 
struggle such as men fight to the last drop of their 
hearts' blood, when honor more than life is at stake ? 
The old flag ! In many a battle, eyes have glazed in 
death looking at its loved folds. Men, with gaping 
wounds, and suppressed cries of agony, broke from 



THE HISTORY OF A FLAG. 



173 



the field, having turned their last gaze at the old 
colors, still fluttering mid smoke and shot. But never 
was so much blood shed for the defense of this flag as 
was spilled like rain for its capture, on that 22d day 
of July. Ask those who won it and wore it, and now, 
as gallantly as they fought for the prize, restore it to 
the brave hands that once so proudly upheld it. In 
the presence of the brave and chivalrous oflicer who, 
with so many complimentary expressions accompany- 
ing the gift, has restored this flag to the regiment 
from which his command once wrenched it, I can not 
find heart or voice at this hour to disparage the cause 
which secured such defenders as General Govan and 
his brigade. The flag of the Union, represented by 
these colors, still waves, vindicated, triumphant. Its 
friends and foes of two decades ago, are now as one, 
equally ready and equally brave, to defend the old 
flag, and all it represents, whether danger threatens 
from abroad or at home. Now, in the name, and as 
representative on this occasion, of the survivors of the 
16th Iowa Infantry, I receive again our old loved 
colors — and, in the name of these comrades, I return 
thanks for the generous, chivalrous kindness which has 
enabled us this night to rejoice with even greater joy 
than those other comrades of the Iowa Brigade, who ■ 
never lost a flag! " 

Addresses were also made by Generals Gresham 
and Belknap; and letters were read from Generals 
Grant, Sherman, and Logan. Altogether, the event 
was a most notable one, and stands among the unusual 
incidents growing out of the Bebellion. 



174 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 



" THE BUMMER GENERALS." 




FEW days after the battle of July 
22d, the Army of the Tennessee 
S was greatly disturbed on learn- 
ing that General O. O. Howard 
had been assigned as their com- 
mander, sending General Logan 
back to his corps. Howard was a 
gallant officer, but a stranger to this 
army, and he was devoid of that per- 
sonal magnetism which gave Logan 
so firm a hold upon the confidence 
and affection of his troops. Logan 
had made a brilliant record as regimental, brigade,, 
division, and corps commander ; he had been severely 
wounded; and the men of the Army of the Tennessee 
looked upon him as the most conspicuous represent- 
ative of the genuine volunteer soldier. Besides, 
whether rightly or not, they were disposed to blame 
the " regulars" for endeavoring to monopolize more 
of the honors of the war than their numbers or ser- 
vices entitled them to, and to feel that his being set 



"THE BUMMEK GENEKALS." 



175 



aside was in some way a reflection upon themselves 
and their achievements. General Sherman himself 
was evidently uneasy as to the outcome of General 
Howard's appointment, for he said in his "Memoirs," 
published since the war, referring to the battle of 
July 29th: 

" This was the first fight in which General Howard 
had commanded the Army of the Tennessee, and he 
evidently aimed to reconcile General Logan in his dis- 
appointment, and to gain the heart of that army to 
which he was a stranger. He very properly left 
General Logan to fight his own corps, but exposed 
himself freely; and afterward walked the lines, the 
men gathering about him in the most affectionate way. 
To this fact at the time I attached much importance, 
for it put me at ease as to the future conduct of this 
most important army." 

But much harm was done General Logan person- 
ally; General Sherman's criticisms being enlarged and 
made much of by those bitter partisans who were not 
in sympathy with General Logan's political views. 
General Sherman had said in his " Memoirs: " 

" I did not consider him (Logan) equal to the 
command of three corps. Between him and General 
Blair there existed a, natural rivalry. Both were men 
of great courage and talent, but were politicians by 
nature and experience, and it may be that for this 
reason they were mistrusted by the regular officers. 
. * . . I regarded Logan and Blair as ' volunteers,' 



176 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



that looked to personal fame and glory as auxiliary 
and secondary to their political ambition." 

These expressions were eagerly caught up by news- 
papers which had been known during the war as "fire- 
in-the-rear " sheets. One of these printed a long and 
bitter screed entitled " The Bummer Generals," tak- 
ing for a text the paragraph quoted above. Such 
articles excited great indignation among the men who 
had served in the Army of the Tennessee; and many 
angry replications found their way into print. An 
article by the author of this volume contained the 
following, which acquired a wide publicity: 

" The effect of such assaults is great injustice to 
noble men who deserve better treatment. In the early 
days of the war, when well-known e regulars ' tried 
their best ' to keep out of the current,' as they them- 
selves expressed it, Frank Blair, ' the bummer gen- 
eral,' with a handful of Home Guards, principally 
Germans, was overthrowing a rebel camp in the 
suburbs of St. Louis, and by the act held Missouri 
faithful to the Union. . . . Logan, Oglesby, 
Palmer, Hurlbut, the Smiths, Crocker, Belknap, Mc- 
Arthur, and scores of others who became 6 bummer 
generals,' were holding public meetings, and bringing 
squads, companies, and regiments to the support of 
the government." 

Referring to the battle of July 22d, the same arti- 
cle said: 

" . . When it was known that McPherson 



"THE BUMMER GENERALS." 



177 



had been killed, portions of the line wavered and 
broke. It was then that General Logan assumed 
command, and by his courage, and that personal mag- 
netism which gave him so much power with his troops, 
succeeded in restoring confidence, and saved the day, 
and perhaps the army. In this, he was nobly seconded 
by General Frank P. Blair. Yet, notwithstanding all 
this, General Logan, and after him, General Blair, 
were not deemed fit to succeed McPherson. Although 
they were the commanders of western troops, which 
they had largely assisted in enlisting, and with 
whom they had been identified from the beginning of 
the war; yet the command was given to Howard, a 
perfect stranger to them, of whom they knew nothing. 
General Howard was never a favorite with the Army 
of the Tennessee; and we are satisfied, brave and 
honest man as he was, that had he been in command 
on the 22d of July, the result might have been far 
different." 

The same article continued, referring to General 
Sherman's complaint, that General Logan and others 
went North at the close of the Atlanta campaign in 
1864, to engage in the presidential campaign: 

""We believe the honest sentiment of the country 
will admit that they did the cause a better service 
than had they remained at the front. The campaign 
was over, and the army was resting, with nothing 
to do but hold its ground until prepared for another 
movement. But at the North, 4 peace conventions ' 
had declared the war a failure, and many earnest 
Union men had almost lost heart. President Lin- 

12 



178 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



coin needed their influence at the polls ; and it was 
such men as Logan, and Blair, and Oglesby, wounded 
and victorious heroes, who kept up the faith of the 
people toward their government, and largely aided 
to make a successful issue at the last." 

General Logan never did a nobler act in his life 
than when, after the action of July 22d, he testified to 
his own honesty of purpose, and stern ideas of sol- 
dierly duty, by returning uncomplainingly to the com- 
mand of his corps, on being supplanted in the com- 
mand of the Army of the Tennessee by one who was 
not guilty of the atrocious crime of being a civilian, or 
"bummer" general. True, Logan was not a profes- 
sional soldier, but he was such a soldier as might well 
be held up as a fit exemplar for soldiers the world over. 
He was one of the bravest among the brave ; among 
the true, he was one of the truest. Where duty com- 
manded him to go, he went ; where it called him to 
stay, there he remained. He was of such stuff as the 
men of the Light Brigade, who made that glorious 
charge at Balaklava ; as the men of the " Cumber- 
land," who fired their guns at the enemy as their ship 
went down beneath the waves. 

There are wars to be fought hereafter, and the sons 
of men now living may possibly fight them. God 
grant that they learn their lessons of a soldier's duty 
from a "bummer general" such as John A. Logan, 
rather than from a "professional soldier," such as 
Fitz-John Porter ! 



HAMMERING AWAY. 



179 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



HAMMERING AWAY. 




^pPON the close of the 
F 

i 



engagement of July 
22d the enemy drew 
back into his en- 
trenchments at At- 
lanta. The next day 
a truce was declared, 
to admit of either army 
burying its dead. For 
ten days thereafter a great 
part of the army was engaged in burning the ties and 
twisting the rails of the Georgia and Virginia rail- 
road, reaching east. This task was preliminary to a 
movement by the right flank to reach the only railroad 
remaining open out of Atlanta, that running south. 
As usual, the rapid march, which was the main inci- 
dent of the plan, fell to the lot of the Army of the 
Tennessee. 

As soon as it was sufficiently dark, on the night of 
July 26th this command silently moved out of its 
works, and marched north and west around Atlanta, 



180 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



thence south to Ezra Church, which lay almost due 
west from the point of departure. The movement con- 
sumed almost the entire night, and the distance cov- 
ered was about twenty miles. 

Immediately upon taking up the new line the troops 
entrenched. It was remarkable how quickly this kind 
of work was performed. Frequently a brigade would 
pick up a rail-fence so clean that nothing was left to 
mark where it had been, and carry the rails half-a- 
mile. throwing them down to serve as a protection, 
when they had advanced as far as possible. Often the 
same rails sufficed for half-a-dozen different lines, 
being carried forward whenever an advance was 
made. 

The Army of the Tennessee found itself in trouble 
at early dawn on the 27th. and sharp skirmishing 
continued throughout the day. at times almost rising 
to the dignity of a regular engagement. The next 
day was one of serious fighting. Logan's Fifteenth 
Corps taking the brunt of the work, and successfully 
withstanding six vigorous charges. General Logan 
lost upward of five hundred men, and Blair and Dodge, 
who sent reinforcements at a critical moment, sus- 
tained some loss. The casualties of the enemy were 
not less than five thousand. 

General Howard said of this engagement : "I 
wish to express my high gratification with the conduct 
of the troops engaged. I never saw better in battle. 



HAMMERING AWAY. 



181 



The general commanding the Fifteenth Corps, though 
ill and much worn out, was indefatigable ; and the 
success of the day is as much attributable to him as to 
any one man." 

This practically closed the campaign for July. 
Sherman had lost nine thousand seven hundred men; 
the enemy, ten thousand eight hundred and forty- 
one. Hood had forced the fighting at fearful cost 
to himself, and was already falling into disfavor. An 
Atlanta paper said : " If Mr. Hood keeps on in 
this way of fighting, his army will be wiped out 
in ten days, and the Yankees will still have a few 
men to go to Mobile left." But the Unionists had 
also lost severely, although better able to afford it. 
Another paper printed the following : " Some one 
asked a Frenchman if the American war was over. 
6 No,' said he, c I still see a few inhabitants ! ' " This 
piece of humor was credited to a French paper — a 
familiar expedient with newspaper men when they con- 
coct a lie, and do not desire to be held responsible 
for it. 

Sharp skirmishing and fierce artillery duels were 
of daily occurrence until August 4th, when an unsuc- 
cessful attempt was made upon the enemy's left. The 
Twenty-third Corps (Schofield's) was the assaulting 
column, and the Seventeenth Corps advanced its lines 
, in support. The latter command moved promptly at 
the moment designated ; but Schofield's either failed 



182 



MARCHING THROUGH GEOEGIA. 



to move, or did so with such little spirit, that the 
Seventeenth Corps was subjected to a severe enfi- 
lading fire, compelling it to retire. The attack 
was repeated the next day, and was again repulsed. 
The affair resulted in General Palmer resio-nino- the 
command of the Fourteenth Corps, an event of great 
moment, inasmuch as it was the first and only serious 
disagreement between the o-eneral-in-chief and a sub- 
ordinate, during the entire campaign. 

It may be premised that, at the time of this un- 
fortunate occurrence, the understanding in the Army 
of the Tennessee was. that the responsibility for the 
difficulty rested upon General Palmer. The writer 
was in a position to know the feeling in the highest 
places in that portion of the army, and his journal 
says, under date of July 5th : 

" General Schofield was to reach and hold the rail- 
road (south of Atlanta). General Palmer was under 
orders to report to Schofield, but Palmer raised many 
objections. "While the two generals were quarreling, 
our skirmish line (Seventeenth Corps) was stoutly 
resisted and compelled to retire.*' 

This was the statement made at the time in the 
Seventeenth Corps. The details have since been as- 
certained. 

General Sherman, in his report of the campaign, 
says : 

" I ordered General Schofield to make a bold at- 



HAMMEKING AWAY. 



185 



tack upon the railroad, and ordered General Palmer to 
report to him for duty. He at once denied General 
Schofield' s right to command him. . . I wrote to 
General Palmer : 

« c Prom the statements made by yourself and Gen- 
eral Schofield to-day, my decision is that he ranks you 
as a major-general. The movements of to-morrow are 
so important that the orders of the superior on that 
.flank must be regarded as military orders, and not in 
the nature of cooperation. I did hope that there 
would be no necessity for my making this decision ; 
but it is better for all that no question of rank should 
occur in actual battle. The Sandtown road, and the 
railroad, if possible, must be gained to-morrow if it 
costs half your command. I regard the loss of time 
this afternoon as equal to the loss of Wo thousand 
men.' " 

The same day, General Sherman wrote to General 
Thomas, General Palmer's immediate superior : 

" Yesterday General Palmer raised the question of 
rank with General Schofield. I went in person, and 
found that General Schofield ranked General Palmer, 
and so decided. . . General Palmer asked to be 
relieved of his command. I declined, and ordered 
him to go on to-day and execute the plan prescribed 
for yesterday, in connection with and under the com- 
mand of General Schofield." 

To this General Thomas answered : 

" I regret that Palmer has taken the course he has, 
and, as I know he intends to offer his resignation as 



186 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



soon as he can properly do so, I recommend that his 
application be granted." 

General Sherman sent the purport of this note to 
General Palmer, and said : 

" If you resign because you measure your number 

of men as greater than his (Schofield's). and your 

services in battle as giving you greater right to Corn- 
ed) O c ■ o o 

mand, you commit the mistake of substituting your 
own individual opinion oyer law and military usage. 
The special assignment of General Schofield to the 
command of a separate army and department, shows 
that he enjoys the confidence of the President even 
above his mere lineal rank. If you want to resign, 
wait a few days, and allege some other reason, one 
that will stand the test of time. Your future is too 
valuable to be staked on a mistake. . . I again 
ask you not to disregard the friendly advice of such 
men as General Thomas and myself, for you can not 
misconstrue our friendly feelings toward you." 

General Palmer persisted, however, and was re- 
lieved, and shortly afterward was assigned to the 
command of the Department of Kentucky, with head- 
quarters at Louisville, in which position he acquitted 
himself with full satisfaction to the government. His 
retirement from active service was greatly regretted 
by his troops, who felt much as did the Army of the 
Tennessee when Logan was set aside to make way for 
Howard; but the remainder of the army almost unan- 
imously sided with Sherman. 



HAMMERING AWAY. 



187 



At a later day, General Palmer authorized the fol- 
lowing statement, but it was not put into such form as 
to secure widespread circulation : 

" He (Palmer) was ordered to take a position in 
the rear of the Army of the Ohio, and support Gen- 
eral Schofield. A question of rank arose. Palmer 
said that rank made no difference to him in the opera- 
tions then pending; that he was there to support the 
Army of the Ohio by order of General Thomas, and 
as Schofield was in charge of the movement, he held 
himself subject to his orders. General Sherman met 
General Palmer soon after, and said to him that he 
thought he was wrong. Palmer replied that he had 
waived all questions of rank, for the purposes of the 
contemplated movement, and was awaiting orders from 
Schofield. General Sherman rode on to Schofield' s 
headquarters. On that night he sent a letter to 
General Palmer, saying that his voluntary consent to 
obey Schofield's order was not enough; that he must 
acknowledge his inferiority of rank. General Palmer 
asked to be relieved. Sherman replied that he could 
not properly ask to be relieved in the presence of an 
enemy. By the advice of General Thomas, Palmer 
concluded to waive the question of rank until the end 
of the campaign. It was supposed that would settle 
the matter; but, on the following night, to his com- 
plete astonishment, he received a letter from Sher- 
man, saying that he (Sherman) understood from 
Thomas that he (Palmer) intended to offer his resig- 
nation at the end of the campaign. If so, he might 
fairly say that the campaign was already closed, and 
resign. Palmer answered in effect : 1 Yesterday, 



188 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

when I asked to be relieved on a question of rank, 
you wrote that I could not honorably do so in the 
presence of the enemy. Now, you write otherwise. 
On this plain evidence of your unfriendliness, I con- 
clude that I can be of no service under your com- 
mand, and respectfully ask to be relieved' " 



THE OLD CHAPLAIN. 



189 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

THE OLD CHAPLAIN. 




HILE the operations 
about Atlanta were yet 
continuing, the author was 
called to Marietta, twenty 
miles rearward. Here he 
found, in the hospital, "Father" 
M'Millan, the chaplain of his 
regiment, prostrated with disease. The venerable man 
was already at death's door, and could converse only 
with great difficulty. It was a sorrowful meeting. 
The two were warmly attached, having known each 
other for many years, and both realized that in life 
they could not meet again. A day or two later the old 
man breathed his last. 

The writer can not halt his pen without paying a 
feeble tribute to the memory of this noble soldier of the 
cross. He was of such stuff as the martyrs and saints 
of old, who illumine the dark pages of history with 



190 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



gleams of brightness. Born in Tennessee, lie inherited 
from his Scotch-Presbyterian ancestors stern ideas of 
right, and unflinching devotion to duty as it came to 
him. Although reared amid the corrupting influences 
of slavery, he conceived the "institution." not only to 
be a foul blot upon our civilization, but a sin against 
God ; and, unwilling that his children, all sons, should 
be subjected to the demoralizing influences of this 
" sum of all villainies," he abandoned a fine position, 
as the head of a leading educational institution, and 
high family connection, to educate them in a land of 
freedom. He removed to Illinois, and assumed the 
pastorate of a Presbyterian church in a growing town 
in the interior of the state. Here he won the love 
of all by his unaffected sincerity and genial warm- 
heartedness. The reason for his removal from his na- 
tive state was soon known throughout the community, 
but his opposition to slavery did not lead him into any 
excesses of speech. He denounced the system as a 
moral crime and a political wrong ; but, like many of 
the old-school Whigs, believed it to be so hedged about 
by the sacred constitutional compact, that none could 
rightfully seek its overthrow, except by moral agita- 
tion. He discerned, however, the true import of the 
storm already rising. He had lived through and list- 
ened to the angry threats of the Southern nullifica- 
tionists, and had heard disunionism preached in his 
native state. John Brown had made his crazy raid 



THE OLD CHAPLAIN. 



191 



upon Harper's Ferry ; extreme Southerners had said 
that the election of an " abolition 55 President would be 
just cause for secession ; and Lincoln, then opposing 
Douglas for Congress, had startled the country with 
the vehement declaration, not born of fanaticism, but 
founded upon the inexorable logic of God's decrees, 
" This nation can not permanently endure, half slave 
and half free. 'A house divided against itself can not 
stand.' " Never to be forgotten by any one of his 
hearers, was a sermon delivered by the venerable cler- 
gyman just before the war-cloud burst. He plead for 
conservatism and brotherly toleration, and a settle- 
ment of the question at issue through the development 
of ideas, rather than a resort to passion and blows. 
His peroration was a masterly piece of rhetoric. He 
said : " Before me I see two mighty armed hosts. 
One bears the banner, £ God and Slavery ! ' the other, 
£ God and Freedom ! ' There are my brothers, my 
friends ; here am I and mine own ! Shall I raise my 
arm against them ? Will they discharge their fatal 
volleys into their brother's breast? Forbid it, Almighty 
God, if may be ; but if not, work out Thy mighty de- 
crees with us, Thy feeble instruments, even though 
our blood be spilt in expiation of the crime of the 
nation ! " 

At a later day, in Tennessee, his own state, while 
the war was in progress, and he wore the uniform of 
his chaplaincy, when the question of emancipation was 



192 



MAECHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



just coming to be discussed, he wrote resolutions advo- 
cating that policy, purely as a war measure. These 
resolutions were adopted by his regiment in mass 
meeting, without a dissenting voice ; and so dispas- 
sionate and convincing were they, that they attained a 
wide publicity. The New York Times referred to 
them as the most logical and convincing statement of 
the case that had yet been presented. Their salient 
points, showing the spirit of that day, curiously blend- 
ing radical war-aggressiveness with conservative polit- 
ical ideas, are here given : 

1. The integrity of our blood-bought Union, "one and indi- 
visible." " It must and shall be maintained." 

2. A prosecution of the war commensurate with all the resources 
of the nation, till the last vestige of the rebellion is obliterated, and the 
majesty of law vindicated and fully established. 

3. Settle the question whether we shall have a government to 
administer, before we divert public attention from the great matter in 
hand, to the question what political party shall administer it. 

4. While the South remained loyal to the Union, we were ever 
ready to protect all her constitutional rights ; and when she returns to 
her allegiance we pledge her the same. But since she has forced war 
upon us, by whipping and hanging, without form of trial, and viciously 
mobbing those who, by the constitution, were entitled to all the immu- 
nities and privileges of citizens ; by wantonly seizing the property and 
funds of the nation ; by confiscating just debts, property and funds of 
loyal citizens ; by refusing to allow the evacuation of Fort Sumter 
unless it was surrendered ; by bombarding and reducing it when the sur- 
render was refused ; by publicly declaring her purpose, by force of arms, 
to take the capital of the nation, with its archives ; and by setting up a 
government of her own within the territorial limits of the United States ; 
we are now for giving her war until she is subdued to her proper 
allegiance We are for weakening her by cutting off her resources, con- 
fiscating her property, slaves not excepted ; and by every means known 
to civilized warfare, reducing her to her proper loyalty. 

5. As the rebels have employed slaves, first in making their forts, 



THE OLD CHAPLAIN. 193 

and. more recently under arms (?), we approve the policy of arming 
"slaves to meet slaves in battle. Nor do we fight to free the slaves but 
free the slaves to stop the fight. 

But this is anticipating. Soon after the organiza- 
tion of the regiment mentioned, he was called to the 
chaplaincy, and joyfully accepted the charge, regard- 
ing it not only a sacred duty, but a high privilege, 
to be enabled to go where he might " watch oyer my 
boys," as he put it, meaning the sons of many of his 
old neighbors and parishioners. Many of the army 
chaplains fell into disrepute during the war, drifting 
into the general tide of demoralization; and, if not 
positively vicious, losing sight of almost everything 
but their own comfort. Chaplain M'Millan never lost 
an iota of his dignity of character, his sense of duty, 
or his kindly affection for those about him. His care 
for u my boys" was solicitous and touching. More 
than once he personally rebuked officers of high rank 
for using towards soldiers, language that would not be 
tolerated elsewhere than in the field. In camp, he 
visited the hospital and the tent of the private, writ- 
ing letters for those unable to do so themselves; 
and cheering the down-hearted, and admonishing the 
erring. On the march he was ever watchful for the 
crippled and infirm, and daily left his saddle to allow 
such a one to ride for a time. The exposures of cam- 
paigning told severely upon his aged frame, and he 
finally succumbed to disease, breathing his last, far 

13 



194 



MARCHING- THROUGH GEORGIA. 



from kindred and home, within hearing of the conflict 
he had so graphically portrayed in advance of its 
opening. The epitaph of such a man might well be 
the noble words uttered by Paul : 

" I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is 
laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the 
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that 
day." 



"ATLANTA IS OURS, AND FAIRLY WON." 195 



CHAPTEE XX, 



" ATLANTA IS OURS, AND FAIRLY WON ! " 




iggf^ HE remainder o£ August 
t[ was marked with un- 
ceasing activity. Under 
date of the 7th, the 
writer's diary notes, " Our 
lines were shelled fiercely to - day. 
This division lost many men." On 
the 10th: " Enemy's artillery much 
more active than in the early days of 
the campaign. We endured four 
hours' shelling to-day. The enemy having heavier 
guns than ours, has it pretty much all his own way." 
17th : " The enemy has raided the railroad again, and 
orders have been issued limiting rations, and instruct- 
ing the men to be saving of ammunition. Demon- 
strated heavily on the enemy's lines to-day to aid 
Schofield, who is on the right." 19th: "Demon- 
strated again to-day. Schofield does not seem to be 
able to r.each the railroad." 20th : "Late last night 
the firing on the skirmish line was suddenly quieted 
by a tremendous rain. As soon as it ceased, the lines 



196 



MAECHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



opened a brisk fire again." An entry the same day, 
summarizes the losses of the division (Giles A. 
Smith's) thus: "June 10th, at Big Shanty, this 
division numbered five thousand men. To this date, 
we have lost one hundred and seventy-five tilled, 
eight hundred and fifty wounded, seven hundred and 
sixty missing — in all, one thousand seven hundred 
and eighty-five men." 

August 26th, the army commenced a movement 
against the West Point railroad. All artillery and 
wagon trains that could be moved without attracting 
attention, were sent early in the day in the direction to 
be pursued; and, as soon as night fell, the guns from 
the front followed with muffled wheels. A slight skir- 
mish line was left in the pits, with instructions to 
keep up sufficient firing to induce the belief that the 
ordinary force was present, and all other troops 
silently left their works. The march was continued 
until daybreak, which found them thirteen miles to the 
south and west. Coffee was hastily made, as hastily 
swallowed, and another six miles added to the dis- 
tance. The remainder of the day was given to rest, 
which was sadly needed. 

Next day, August 28th, the troops marched eight 
miles, and found the enemy at Red Oak Station. 
They were driven without great effort, and a footing 
on the railroad gained, when the army went to work 
with a will to destroy it, burning the ties and twisting 



"ATLANTA IS OUKS, AND FAIKLY WON." 197 

the rails to such an extent as to utterly preclude the 
possibility of their use again. 

The following day, August 29th, a further march 
of twelve miles was made, and early next morning the 
enemy was again encountered on Flint river, near 
Jonesboro. They assaulted the Union lines, evidently 
hoping to catch them before they could get well 
straightened out for action, but were repulsed. 

September 1st, a stout engagement was fought, 
resulting in the defeat of the enemy. His loss was 
severe; and among the prisoners taken was General 
Govan, who captured the 10th Iowa Kegim'ent on the 
22d of July, as narrated in a preceding chapter, and 
the greater part of his brigade. 

That night, heavy explosions were heard in the 
direction of Atlanta, twenty miles distant, leading 
to the conclusion that General Slocum was making" 
an attack; but, the next morning, prisoners brought 
in by the cavalry, reported that the noise was caused 
by Hood blowing up some of his ammunition trains ; 
and, in consequence of the raid upon his railroad, he 
had abandoned the city. 

Then it was that General Sherman sent to Wash- 
ington his announcement of the victory, which con- 
tained the famous sentence: " Atlanta is ours, and 
fairly won ! " Referring to it, General Sherman says 
in his 64 Memoirs " : 

" This victory was most opportune. Mr. Lincoln 



198 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



told me afterward that even lie had felt in doubt. . . . 
A presidential election then agitated the North. Mr. 
Lincoln represented the national cause, and General 
McClellan had accepted the nomination of the Demo- 
cratic party, whose platform was that the war was a 
failure, and that it was better to allow the South to go, 
free to establish a separate government, whose corner- 
stone should be slavery. Success to our arms at that 
time was a political necessity. The brilliant success 
at Atlanta filled the requirement, and made the elec- 
tion of Mr Lincoln certain." 

Immediately upon the occupation of Atlanta, Gen- 
eral Sherman issued orders proclaiming the end of the 
campaign, and ordering the army into camp "for rest, 
and reorganization for a fine winter's campaign." The 
Army of the Cumberland was to be grouped in and 
about Atlanta ; the Army of the Tennessee at East 
Point, and the Army of the Ohio at Decatur. This 
movement began September 5th, and proved to be a 
remarkable conclusion to an eventful campaign. It 
rather resembled the retreat of a defeated army, than a 
victorious march by conquerors. 

As the head of the column turned toward Atlanta, 
Hood's army was but a little distance behind it, and 
his cavalry was particularly active. It was necessary, 
therefore, that the artillery and supply wagons should 
precede the troops. A heavy rain had been falling all 
day, and, what with the unmeasurable mud in the 
roads, and the unserviceable condition of the animals, 



" ATLANTA IS OURS, AND FAIRLY WON." 199 



consequent upon long service and ill-feeding, it was 
nine o'clock at night before the long train was straight- 
ened out, and the troops began to move. The march 
was spasmodic and painful. For a few minutes at a 
time, the men plodded along as well as was possible in 
the intense darkness and blinding rain ; then a halt 
would occur, sometimes for five minutes, sometimes 
for a half -hour, caused by a portion of the wagon-train 
stalling or breaking down. Occasionally a wagon, irre- 
trievably wrecked, or its team utterly worn out, w r as 
thrown to one side of the road, and burned. At one 
moment, startled by such a conflagration, the writer's 
horse made a sudden leap, and the rider, asleep in the 
saddle through sheer exhaustion, was awakened by 
falling into the mud. After a march of six miles, con- 
suming twelve hours' time, a halt was called, and the 
wearied troops prepared such food and took such rest 
as the weather would permit. During the day a fur- 
ther hard march of six miles was accomplished, and 
camp established near East Point. 

That evening, general orders were read to the 
troops, communicating the following historic papers : 

Executive Mansion, 

Washington, Sept. 3, 1864. 
The national thanks are rendered by the President to Major General 
W, T, Sherman and the gallant officers and soldiers -of his command, 
before Atlanta, for the distinguished ability and perseverance displayed 
in the campaign in Georgia, which, under Divine favor, has resulted in 
the capture of Atlanta. The marches, battles, sieges, and other military 
operations that have signalized the campaign, must render it famous in 



200 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the annals of war, and have entitled those who have participated therein 
to the applause and thanks of the nation. 

Abraham Lincoln, 
President of the United States. 

City Point, Va., Sept. 4. 
Maj. Gen. Sherman : I have just received your dispatch announc- 
ing the capture of Atlanta. In honor of your great victory, I have 
ordered a salute to be fired, with shotted guns, from every battery bear- 
ing upon the enemy. The salute will be tired within an hour, amid 
great rejoicing. U. S. Grant, 

Lieutenant General. 

And now that tlie troops fully recognized the im- 
port of their brilliant but wearisome and bloody three 
months' campaigning, and learned with what joy the 
news was received at home, they gave way to a pro- 
tracted jubilee. The brass and martial bands, which 
had been silent all the lono* way from Chattanooga to 
Atlanta, now played their most exultant airs ; and the 
men vied with the instruments in making noise 
expressive of great joy. All were happy and smiling, 
from the commander-in-chief to the humblest private 
in the ranks, and even the bray of the half-starved 
government mule seemed mellow and melodious, as it 
added to the din. 

Better yet. "the cracker-line."' as the railroad was 
called, was again in repair, after having been greatly 
disturbed by the enemy ; and presently the troops 
enjoyed the novel experience of abundant rations and 
frequent mails. 

At this time, by the urgent request of President 



"ATLANTA IS OURS, AND FAIRLY WON." 201 



Lincoln, Generals Blair and Logan went North, to speak 
during the presidential contest, then at its height. 
Blair returned in time to accompany his corps in its 
march to the sea. Logan, however, when just on the 
eve of return to the front, was cut off by Sherman's 
departure from Atlanta. He at once went to Washing- 
ton, and was ordered to Nashville to relieve General 
Thomas, who rested under the imputation of want of 
enterprise. On reaching Louisville, however, Logan 
was so fully convinced of Thomas' ability and deter- 
mination to stop Hood at Nashville, that he went no 
farther, but telegraphed General Grant that it would 
be neither just nor expedient to relieve Thomas 
when he was doing so well. Accordingly, Thomas 
retained his command, while Logan remained at the 
North until Sherman reached the sea, where he 
rejoined the army, and resumed command of his old 
corps. 

While the army was resting in the vicinity of At- 
lanta, General Sherman busied himself in preparing 
for another campaign; and, as a necessary incident to 
the success of his plans, he demanded that the entire 
population of Atlanta should be removed, the people 
being given the privilege of going North or South, as 
they might prefer. To those electing to go North, he 
proffered rations, and transportation for themselves 
and their effects; those preferring the South he would 
remove, with their goods, to Bough and Beady, twenty 



202 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



miles distant, and place them under tlie protection of 
the Confederate military authorities. Negroes in the 
employ or keeping of these people, were to be free 
to go South with their masters if they so desired. 

The determination to depopulate Atlanta provoked 
an angry correspondence between Generals Sherman 
and Hood, in course of which the latter dealt in much 
florid rhetoric, and exposed himself to the most cruel 
thrusts of Sherman's caustic pen. Hood protested 
"in the name of God and humanity," and declared 
that " the unprecedented measure transcends, in 
studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before 
brought to my attention in the dark history of war." 
He added : " "We will fight you to the death ! Better 
die a thousand deaths than submit to live under you 
or your government, and your negro allies." 

In reply, General Sherman defended his course, 
and suggested it as "unnecessary to appeal to the 
dark ages of the history of war, when recent and 
modern examples are so handy;" and instanced 
numerous cases, adding, "Ton defended Atlanta on a 
line so close to town that every cannon-shot, and 
many musket shots, that overshot their mark, went 
into the habitations of women and children." He 
continued : " Appeal not to a just God in such a 
sacrilegious manner — you who, in the midst of peace 
and prosperity, have plunged a nation into a dark and 
cruel war." 



" ATLANTA IS OURS, AMD FAIRLY WON." 205 

The civil authorities of Atlanta also sought to 
secure a revocation of the order, and instanced some 
pitiable cases of real distress which would follow its 
enforcement. To them General Sherman replied in 
pregnant terms : " My order was not designed to 
meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for 
the future struggle in which millions of good people 
outside of Atlanta have a deep interest. We must 
have peace, not only in Atlanta, but in all America. 
To secure this, we must stop the war. To stop war, 
we must defeat the rebel armies. . . When peace 
does come, you may call on me for anything. Then 
will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with 
you to shield your homes and families against danger 
from every quarter." 

Even while General Sherman's brain was busy 
with these matters, and his plans for a new campaign, 
he found time to give kindly thought to the unfor- 
tunate men of his own and of other Union armies, 
who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. A flag 
of truce station was established at Rough and Ready, 
and such of the rebel prisoners as had not been sent 
North were delivered to General Hood, in exchange 
for an equal number of Union prisoners. But Gen- 
eral Sherman's kindness of heart found its most 
eloquent expression in the consideration he gave to 
alleviating the distress of the unhappy wretches held 
in the Andersonville prison pens. He had learned 



206 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

their condition from the few captives who were so 
fortunate as to escape, and asked permission from 
General Hood to send within the rebel lines a train- 
load of clothing and other necessaries to relieve their 
immediate wants. The request was granted, and the 
"Western Sanitary Commission, through its agent, Mr. 
James E. Yeatman, of St. Louis, upon General Sher- 
man's request, forwarded a large quantity of under- 
clothing, soap, scissors, and fine-combs — articles for 
which there was the utmost need. The well-meant 
effort was unproductive of good, however, for before 
the supplies could reach Andersonville, the prisoners 
were removed to keep them from falling into the 
hands of Sherman's army, which, by that time, was 
sweeping through the " Confederacy," making 



' A thoroughfare for Freedom and her train, 
Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the main." 



A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS 



207 



CHAPTER XXI. 



A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS. 




the Atlanta campaign, 
the adjutant was granted 



a brief leave, accompanied with a hint from Colonel 
Cadle, General Blair's adjutant general, to " get back 
in a hurry, or you will lose some fun." His journey 
was marked with so many incidents of an unusual 
nature, that the narrative is given, although it 
obtrudes somewhat more of the personality of the 
actor than he had intended at the outset. 

A part of the adjutant's mission at the North was 
to procure commissions for a number of meritorious 
non-commissioned officers, for whose promotion the 
casualties of the campaign had made opportunity. 
Visiting the office of the Adjutant-General, he made 
known his errand, and presented the necessary recom- 
mendations; but those in charge did not receive him 



208 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



with great cordiality, apparently resenting the irregu- 
lar method o£ dealing with the department, instead of 
observing the usual red tape channels prescribed by 
military etiquette. In this strait, the adjutant called 
upon Governor Yates, and presented his case; where- 
upon that great-hearted man, ever a warm friend of 
the soldier, and now doubly glad to have an opportu- 
nity for rewarding in some measure well deserving 
men of that army which had rendered such dis- 
tinguished service, made the crooked path straight, 
and ordered the immediate issuance of the commis- 
sions so much desired. 

Reaching Louisville, October 1st, on his return to 
the front, the adjutant learned that the railroad was 
a forbidden way to soldiers, peremptory orders requir- 
ing them to go forward, if at all, in marching detach- 
ments, all rolling stock being absolutely necessary for 
the transportation of army supplies. He was so fortu- 
nate, however, as to have a personal acquaintance with 
the commander of the district, and that officer kincllj 
provided him with a railroad pass to Nashville, which 
w r as as far as his authority extended. 

The next day, the adjutant reached Nashville, and 
was greatly disconcerted to learn that no soldiers were 
allowed to pass south of that city under any pretext 
wdiatever ; and that all transient officers and men were 
required to report to the local military authorities for 
assignment to provisional commands, then being organ- 



A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS. 



209 



ized for the defense of the post. No particulars were 
given of the emergency calling for these unusual dis- 
positions, and the wildest rumors prevailed. 

Sorely out of patience, the adjutant wandered 
about the city disconsolately, delaying compliance 
with the printed orders which stared him in the face 
wherever he turned, and hoping to find some way 
out of the difficulty. No experience is so hard for 
the soldier, as to find himself far away from his own 
command, and obliged to do duty with strange troops, 
especially when the latter are of a hap-hazard, raade- 
up-for-the-occasion character ; and his memory re- 
verted to his experiences when, as a private, he was 
so situated at Memphis, and made to do duty with a 
spade, in the trenches of Fort Pickering. 

While his mind was thus occupied with painful 
reminiscences of the past, and doubtful misgivings as 
to the future, the adjutant's eye fell upon a building 
with a sign-board inscribed, " U. S. Military Tele- 
graph : J. C. Van Duzer, Supt." He hailed the name 
with glad surprise, for it was that of his old friend, 
the telegraph operator " at home," before the war 
began. Colonel Van Duzer was. fortunately present, 
and, in answer to anxious inquiry, gave a startling 
account of affairs at the front. Hood had interposed 
his army between that of Sherman, at Atlanta, and 
Chattanooga, and was marching down the railroad, 
wrecking it completely. How near he had approached 
14 



210 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



to Chattanooga, or what course Sherman was taking to 
stop him in his all-devastating career, could not be 
ascertained. However, none but construction trains 
were running south from Nashville, and they with fear 
and trembling ; while all soldiers reaching that city 
from the North, were being held and organized for 
local defense, or to be dispatched to such point on the 
road as might require their services. 

Colonel Van Duzer then gave the adjutant assur- 
ances that he would assist him to rejoin his command 
at the earliest possible opportunity, and, in the mean- 
time, guarantee him immunity from draft for local 
military duty. It would be necessary, however, for 
him to lay aside his uniform, and masquerade for the 
time as a member of the Telegraph Repair Corps. To 
this the adjutant readily consented ; and, what with the 
friendly offices of Colonel Van Duzer, and the compan- 
ionship of two bona fide members of the corps, who had 
been school-day and workshop companions with him, 
in former years, he found himself much more pleas- 
antly situated than he had expected. . 

At length came a day of release from all uncer- 
tainty. At noon on the 4th of October, the adjutant 
mounted the top of a box-car loaded with artillery 
ammunition bound for Chattanooga. He wore a cap 
bearing the initials, " U. S. M. T." (United States 
Military Telegraph) ; and in his pocket bore a pass 
under the hand of Colonel Van Duzer, certifying to his 



A CHAPTEK OF INCIDENTS. 



211 



connection with that corps, and ordering all trains to 
transport him at pleasure. The train ran but slowly, 
and darkness came before half the distance had been 
accomplished. Then fell a torrent of rain, continuing 
all night, thoroughly drenching the unhappy traveler. 
In places the track ran through tunnels, and long cuts 
in the solid rock, where the water came down from 
the mountain sides in floods, making necessary a firm 
grip upon the brakeman's footway, to avoid being 
swept away. 

On the 7th, by virtue of his pass, the adjutant 
boarded a repair train and ran to the Oostanaula river. 
The bridge there had been destroyed by the rebels, 
and with a companion, a genuine telegraph repairer, 
he crossed the stream in a scow. On the other side 
another engine was found, which conveyed them to the 
Etowah. Here, again, the bridge was gone, and again 
a scow was brought into requisition. On the other 
side were found an engine and tender which had 
been cut off by the rebel raid. The engineer was 
alone, his fireman having deserted ; and his joy 
was great at finding blue-coated friends, with some- 
thing in their canteens and haversacks, instead of 
gray- jacketed enemies seeking his life. His engine 
was cold, and almost out of wood, but there was 
fortunately some water in the tank. The U. S. M. T. 
orders were produced, and the engineer readily con- 
sented to go anywhere, if the necessary fuel could be 



212 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



had; whereupon the three chopped up sufficient fence- 
rails and fallen timber to fill the tender, then got up 
steam, and started south. 

On the evening of October 8th, the party reached 
Allatoona. Hood's attack had been made but three 
days before, and everything was in confusion. All the 
red tape belonging to the subsistence and ordnance 
departments had gone down in the general wreck, 
and the adjutant found it necessary to issue, with- 
out the formality of a requisition, food, arms and 
ammunition, to a squad of fifteen men belonging to 
commands farther down the road, who attached them- 
selves to him on learning his destination. The party 
followed the railroad south, marching on foot. Night 
overtook them about midway between Allatoona and 
Big Shanty, where they went into bivouac, posting 
pickets, and refraining from making fires, lest the 
enemy might be lurking about. In the morning the 
journey was resumed, and in due time all reached 
their various regiments. 

The railroad between Allatoona and Big Shanty, a 
distance of fifteen miles, had been entirely destroyed 
by the enemy. Every tie was burned, and every rail 
twisted; the cuts in the road were filled with heavy 
trees felled from the side of the road, and the wrecks 
of many engines and cars, given to the flames after 
their supplies had been removed to the enemy's wagon 
trains. 



A CHAPTEE OF INCIDENTS. 213 

At Allatoona, the adjutant met some of his friends 
of the 7th Illinois, and other regiments, among whom 
was Captain M. B,. Flint, General Corse's aide, from 
whom he derived a vivid narrative of the bloody battle 
which had been so lately fought 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XXII. 



ALLATOONA. 




m 



W^jHE enemy had passed 
around Atlanta with the 
intention of destroying 
the railroad in Sher- 
man's rear, hoping to 
compel him to retreat 
northward. 
The first blow was struck at Big 
Shanty, on the morning of October 
4th. This post was garrisoned by a 
portion of the consolidated Fourteenth 
and Fifteenth Illinois Veteran Battalions, of 
the Fourth Division, Seventeenth Corps. The little 
command made a vigorous resistance, but the enemy 
was in strong force, and captured it almost bodily. 

Somewhat farther south, guarding the water-tank, 
a short distance from the base of Kenesaw Mountain, 
was posted the 32d Illinois Regiment, of the same 
division. The commander of this regiment, Major 
Davidson, on hearing the first scattering shots of the 
enemy's advance upon Big Shanty, formed his line, 




ALLATOONA. 



215 



threw out skirmishers, and pushed forward to learn 
what the noise meant. He advanced within half a mile 
of Big Shanty, when a heavy attack was made upon 
his flank by a greatly superior force, dispersing his 
men after a sharp conflict. Several of the skirmishers 
were captured; among them Sergeant John M. Eice, a 
young man of unusual intelligence. Rice was taken 
at once before General Jackson, and sharply ques- 
tioned respecting the position and character of the 
troops farther up the road : and, using his own 
language, he " had hard work inventing lies fast 
enough to answer the questions, and keep from self- 
contradiction." The General assured Eice that his 
personal effects should be respected, but within ten 
minutes after leaving the presence of that officer, he 
was robbed of all the clothing he wore, receiving a 
motley assortment of villainous " butternut," in ex- 
change. With other prisoners from his own regiment, 
and those of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Illinois Bat- 
talions, Eice was sent to Andersonville, and did not 
regain his liberty until the close of the war. 

From Big Shanty the enemy pressed northward, and 
only halted when he arrived in front of Allatoona. At 
that point were stored vast supplies of subsistence and 
ammunition, indispensable to the existence of the 
Union army. To Sherman the loss of this post meant 
a disastrous ending to a hitherto successful campaign. 
To Hood, its acquisition promised means for prose- 



216 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



cuting offensive operations, and held out a hope for 
the absolute ruin of his enemy. 

Neither the movement nor its purpose escaped the 
shrewd and ever-watchful Sherman : he saw the one, 
and divined the pther. Hastening to Vining's Station, 
from whose summit he could convey messages to Ken- 
esaw, and thence to Allatoona, by the flags of his signal 
corps, he instructed the commanding officer at the lat- 
ter place to call General Corse from Rome to his assist- 
ance. He also said: "If he (Hood) moves up 
toward Allatoona, I will surely come in force." By a 
poetic license, some verse-maker twisted this message, 
making it read, " Hold the fort, for I am coming ! " 
and wrote the hymn which goes by that title. Unlike 
most popular songs, this one has never been followed 
by an " answer." Possibly the response of Corse, after 
the battle, " I am short a cheek-bone and an ear, but 
am able to whip all hell yet ! " was not considered an 
appropriate text. 

The garrison at Allatoona was a brigade of three 
small regiments, and a battery of field artillery, all 
commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Tourtelotte, of the 
4th Minnesota Regiment. ' General Corse arrived from 
Rome, during the night of October 4th, bringing with 
him Colonel Dick Rowett's brigade of three fragmen- 
tary veteran regiments, which increased the number of 
the garrison to nearly two thousand men. The 7th 
Illinois, of Rowett's brigade (his own regiment) was 



ALLATOONA. 



217 



so important an acquisition to the defensive power of 
the garrison, that its services can not be overestimated. 
It was arm 3d with the Henry rifle, a sixteen-shot maga- 
zine gun ; and the rapidity and effectiveness of its fire 
told fearfully upon the charging columns of the enemy 
at various times during the action which followed. 
Indeed, it is questionable whether the comparatively 
slow fire of muzzle-loading guns would have been able 
to cope with the dense masses of the enemy in their 
desperate assaults. The moral influence of this fire- 
arm was probably as great as its destructive power. 
The enemy held it in great dread, speaking of it as 
" a gun the Yanks loaded up on Sunday, and fired off 
all the rest of the week." The 7th had received these 
arms only a few days before the battle, the men sup- 
plying themselves, out of their own means, at a cost of 
fifty-one dollars a gun, more than three months' pay. 

Rowett's brigade might have been readily inter- 
cepted by the enemy. The troops came by railroad, 
in freight-cars ; and their safe arrival at Allatoona was 
only due to the fact that so few men were visible, that 
the enemy supposed the train to be loaded with sup- 
plies, and, confident of their ability to capture the 
post, permitted it to run into the depot under the 
protection of the forts. The train bearing the second 
brigade of Corse's division ran off the track soon after 
leaving Rome, and did not reach Allatoona until after 
the battle. 



218 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



General Corse's command left the cars about two 
o'clock in the morning, and at once formed line. 
The enemy was even then within easy rifle range, 
and kept up a spattering fire. Captain M. R. Flint, 
of General Corse's staff, annoyed by the incessant 
zip-zip of the bullets, and anxious to be employed, 
asked his chief whether it would not be advis- 
able to carry the ammunition from the train into the 
fort. The General was not apprehensive of serious 
trouble, and did not think it necessary, but left the 
matter to the discretion of his aide. Captain Flint at 
once detailed a sufficient number of men, and carried 
out his suggestion. The act was providential — it was 
but a few hours before the ammunition was sorely 
needed; its absence might have caused a great dis- 
aster and changed the entire campaign, 

Shortly after sunrise, on the morning of the memo- 
rable 5th of October, General Sherman stood upon the 
summit of Kenesaw Mountain, anxious for tidings 
from Allatoona. 

At the same moment General Corse and staff stood 
at the signal station on Allatoona. By his side was 
the signal officer, transmitting the message of his 
commander. The flag fluttered to right and left, 
slowly spelled out the words: " Corse is " 

At this moment, the enemy occupying the valley 
below and to the south, discharged a battery of artil- 
lery. A shell cut away the flag-staff in the hands of 



ALLATOONA. 



221 



its bearer, and the message was not completed. Before 
a new flag could be procured, the mist, and smoke 
rising from the enemy's batteries, spread an impene- 
trable veil between Kenesaw and Allatoona. What 
must have been Sherman's anxiety at Kenesaw ! 
"Corse is !" What should have been the re- 
mainder of the message ? * Was Corse at Allatoona, or 
was he not? Was he living, or dead? 

Allatoona Pass is a lofty hill cleft by the railroad. 
The summit on either side was crowned with fort and 
rifle-pits. Colonel Tourtelotte's brigade occupied that* 
on the east, General Corse's that on the west. At the 
foot of the hill lay the warehouses with their immense 
stores of supplies, upon which so much depended. 

About eight o' clocks a flag of truce came in, bearing 
the following letter: 

Around Allatoona, Oct. 5th, 8.15 a.m., 1S64. 

Comvianding Officer, U. S. Forces, Allatoona; 

Sir : I have placed the forces under my command in such positions 
that you are surrounded, and, to avoid a needless effusion of blood, I 
call upon you to surrender your forces at once, and unconditionally. 
Five minutes will be allowed you to decide. 

Should you accede to this, you will be treated in the most honorable 
manner as prisoners of war. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully yours, 

S. G. French, 
Major-General Commanding Forces C. S. 

At this moment the enemy, not less than five 
thousand in number, surrounded the little garrison on 
three sides. Their columns, all prepared for the 
charge, were in plain sight on the west; a strong 



222 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



force was moving up the hill from the north ; and the 
batteries in the valley to the south were in position. 

Corse was a man of small stature, but his every 
pound of flesh and blood was that of a hero. His eye 
flashed as if lighted with a Promethean spark; and 
his chest swelled with angry defiance to the hideous 
threat implied in the summons to surrender. 

" Captain Flint," said he, " answer this!" 

Drawing from his pocket a small order-book, Cap- 
tain Flint seated himself upon a tree-stump, and wrote 
as follows, General Corse at once dictating, and direct- 
ing the placing of his forces: 

Headquarters Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, 

8.30 a.m. Oct. 5th, 1864. 

Major-Gen, S. G. French, C. S. A., etc. 

Your communication demanding surrender of my command, I 
acknowledge receipt of, and respectfully reply that we are prepared for 
" the needless effusion of blood" whenever it is agreeable to you. 
I am, very respectfully, your Obdt. Sv't, 

John M. Corse, 
Brigadier-General Commanding Forces U. S. 

The assault began at once — so soon indeed, that it 
seemed as if the enemy did not await the return of 
their .flag of truce. The artillery on the south opened 
a vigorous fire, and a small detachment endeavored to 
scale the hill from the north. The latter force was 
speedily covered with the rifles of the Unionists, and 
found itself unable to advance or retreat. 

The principal attack came from the west, Cockr ell's 
rebel brigade advancing up the hill toward the fort, 



ALLATOONA. 



225 



and assailing Bowett's regiments with great vigor. 
The- latter made a spirited resistance, but the ex- 
terior line of rifle - pits was entirely too long to be 
held by so small a force, and the troops fell back, the 
7th Illinois Kegiment occupying the fort, while the 
39th Iowa and 93rd Illinois regiments went into the 
interior line of rifle-pits immediately in front of it, and 
upon the right. Colonel Eowett was slightly wounded 
by a fragment of shell while retiring. 

This position was charged by the enemy, in solid 
column, seven different times. The first assault was 
repulsed without great difficulty, and upwards of an 
hour elapsed before the attempt was repeated, the 
interval being occupied with incessant musketry 
and artillery firing. The fort was poorly con- 
structed, its weakest point being an opening at about 
the center of the western face, the most exposed 
portion of the work. Fortunately, a number of cotton 
bales were at hand, and these were used to close the 
gap. The cotton was repeatedly set on fire by shells, 
making it necessary for a portion of the troops to 
cease fighting, and smother the flames by rolling the 
bales over and over. 

It was during the slight lull in the battle that 
General Corse fell, painfully but not dangerously 
wounded. 

In front and to the north of the fort was a house 
which served as a vantage ground for the rebel sharp- 
15 



226 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



shooters, who had almost succeeded in silencing one 
of the two pieces of artillery which bore upon their 
lines. Several gunners had been killed at their post, 
and the artillerists resorted to many methods of load- 
ing the pieces with the least possible exposure. One, 
while lying upon his back, under the gun, ramming 
home a cartridge, was wounded in both hands. So 
thick was the tempest of bullets that the gabions were 
cut to pieces, releasing the earth, which had furnished 
a slight protection. At length the one gun which 
bore upon the house became useless. As was after- 
ward learned, it was actually choked with a sawdust 
cartridge furnished by some dastardly contractor. 

The situation was perilous in the extreme. Calling 
General Corse to the »spot, Captain Flint indicated the 
position of the sharpshooters, and the useless con- 
dition of the piece of artillery, which he suggested 
should be replaced with one from another face of the 
fort. Corse rose on tip-toe to view the ground in 
front, and while in this position a rifle-ball ploughed 
along the right side of his face, carrying away a part 
of his ear. Stunned by the shock, the gallant com- 
mander fell into the arms of his aide, who seated him 
upon an ammunition box in an interior corner of the 
fort. Colonel Bowett, a no less gallant soldier than 
his chief, at once succeeded to the command. 

But Corse made wise dispositions before he fell. 
The choked gun was replaced by a fresh piece, which 



ALLATOONA. 



227 



did murderous execution; but this was only after 
laborious effort amid soul-sickening scenes. Dead 
and wounded men were strewn thick in the way to the 
embrasure, and scores were laid aside as tenderly as 
was possible before the task could be accomplished. 
The General also dispatched his aide to ask reinforce- 
ments from Colonel Tourtelotte, who, in the redoubt 
on the east side of the railroad cut, was less seriously 
engaged. The aide, having entered the place during 
the night, was not aware that a footpath extended 
across the cut from summit to summit ; and he 
made a perilous journey under fire, down one hill 
and up the other, happily returning in safety, closely 
followed by Colonel Hanna, with his 50th Illinois 
Regiment, familiarly known as " The Blind Half- 
Hundred." This command, in moving across the rail- 
road cut, encountered and dispersed a detachment of 
the enemy engaged in an attempt to burn the supply 
warehouses. 

Many of the muskets were now so hot with rapid 
firing that they were well-nigh useless; and ammu- 
nition for the sixteen-shooters of the 7th Illinois 
was becoming scarce. In this crisis, the defenders of 
the fort were counted off in relays, one-half to fire at 
a time, at once saving ammunition and giving oppor- 
tunity for the guns to cool somewhat. At one time an 
officer gave the command to one of the relays, " Cease 
firing!" The lion-hearted Corse, apparently insen- 



228 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



sible, heard the words, and thought them to mean 
surrender. Rising to his feet with a bound, the 
exertion causing the blood to flow afresh from his 
wound, bathing his face with the crimson tide, he 
thundered: "No surrender, by God! Hold Allatoona! " 

Gallant soldier! Glorious hero! Well might 
Sherman say, "I know Corse! So long as he lives 
Allatoona is safe! " 

But they were all such soldiers, such heroes! 
There was no thought of surrender by Eowett and his 
men. 

The enemy was about to make a desperate effort; 
their preparations were plainly to be seen. The 
Union troops with the ordinary muskets were directed 
to fix bayonets to repel an encounter at close quarters ; 
the 7th Illinois to reload their sixteen-shooters and 
reserve their fire for an opportune moment. The two 
pieces of artillery had been silent for some time for 
want of ammunition, but a brave man made the dan- 
gerous journey across the railroad cut, swept by the 
enemy's artillery, and returned with a box of can- 
ister. 

These dispositions were made none too soon, for the 
enemy was already advancing to the charge. Night 
was coming on and Sherman would soon be thunder- 
ing upon their heels. Allatoona must fall now or 
never. Fired with the energy of desperation, the 
rebel columns came on, and as they neared the works 



ALLATOOXA. 



231 



the two pieces of artillery, doubly charged, fired their 
deadly contents full in their face, while the troops 
poured into them a storm of bullets. At this critical 
moment, General Corse shouted with a voice of uncon- 
querable determination, " No surrender! Officers, 
draw your revolvers! Xo Libby prison in ours!" 

The enemy's columns halted, shivered for an 
instant under the pitiless storm, and then fled. 
About the same moment Colonel Eowett fell with his 
second wound, a rifle-ball plowing a deep groove 
through the very crown of his skull, but his pluck 
was great, and he soon rallied. 

The gallant commander, and his equally brave and 
determined second, were both wounded. But there 
was little need of commander now ; the enemy was 
in retreat, and Allatoona was safe. 

During this bitter contest, Lieutenant - Colonel 
Tourtelotte, with the 4th Minnesota and 18th Wiscon- 
sin regiments, and a two gun battery, held the redoubt 
on the east side of the railroad cut. He was able, 
however, to repulse the attack of the enemy without 
great difficulty, and afterward rendered material assist- 
ance to the defenders of the western redoubt, cover- 
ing their flank with his artillery, and sending them 
reinforcements at a critical time. The gallant Colonel, 
however, suffered a serious wound. 

French left behind him two hundred and thirty- 
one dead and four hundred and eleven wounded and 



232 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



prisoners. Corse's command lost seven hundred and 
seven men — more than one-third the entire force. 

On the night following, a soldier of the 7th Illinois 
Regiment, Sergeant-Major Flint, by the flickering 
light of the camp fire, wrote the following stirring 
lines : 

Winds that sweep the southern mountains 
And the leafy river's shore, 
Bear ye not a prouder burden 
Than ye ever learned before ? 

And the hot blood fills 
The heart until it thrills 
At the story of the terror, and the glory of the battle 
Of the Allatoona hills. 

Echoes from the purple mountains 
To the dull surrounding shore; 
'Tis as sad and proud a burden 
As ye ever learned before! 
How they fell like grass 
When the mowers pass, 
And the dying, when the foe was flying, swelled the cheering 
Of the heroes of the Pass. 

Sweep it o'er the hills of Georgia 

To the mountains of the North; 
Teach the coward and the doubter 
What the blood of man is worth. 
Hail the flag you pass! 
Let its stained and tattered mass 
Tell the story of the terror, and the glory of the battle 
Of the Allatoona Pass.* 

General Sherman was so highly pleased with the 
defense of Allatoona that he issued a general order as 
follows : 

" The General commanding avails himself of the 

♦From History of ?tli Illinois Regiment. — Ambrose. 



ALLATOONA. 



233 



opportunity, in the handsome defense made of Alla- 
toona, to illustrate the most important principle in 
war, that fortified posts should be defended to the 
last, regardless of the relative numbers of the party 
attacking and attacked. The thanks of this army are 
due, and are hereby accorded to General Corse, Colo- 
nel Tourtelotte, Colonel Eowett, officers and men, for 
their determined and gallant defense of Allatoona, and 
it is made an example to illustrate the importance of 
preparing in time, and meeting the danger, when 
present, boldly, manfully and well. 

" Commanders and garrisons of the posts along our 
railroad are hereby instructed that they must hold 
their posts to the last minute, sure that the time 
gained is valuable and necessary to their comrades at 
the front." 

[Note. — The author is aware that General Sherman states in his 
14 Memoirs," that he received General Corse's signal message in full. 
But General Corse and his aide are positive that the message was 
interrupted as stated at pages 218-219.] 



234 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 



A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS. 




N the action at Allatoona fell 
Dudley Atchison, a private 
of the 7th Illinois Regi- 
ment. This gallant young 
soldier, in the full vigor of 
early manhood, and with all 
the enthusiasm of youth, 
was not surpassed by any of the heroic 
band in cool courage and steady determination. He 
fell in the very heat of the action, pierced by two 
deadly bullets — one entered his forehead, lodging 
within the skull ; tlie other passed in above the left 
ear, and made its exit over the left eye. 

But death did not come at once to the gallant lad. 
For many hours after the battle was over, he lingered 
in agony, lovingly ministered to by a comrade and 
kinsman who scarcely left his side. Not a single 
complaint was uttered by the dying soldier. He 
answered all questions addressed to him, sometimes 
rationally, at others, in a careless manner which indi- 
cated that his mind was wandering. He spoke of his 



A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS. 



235 



comrades who were dead or wounded, and when asked 
as to himself, said that he was " all right." He 
inquired of the comrade who sat by his side, whether 
Howell or Howe was attending him, referring to the 
old family physicians. Then he thought himself to be 
at home, surrounded by parents, brothers and sisters ; 
and frequently called for his favorite brother " Aleck," 
who had fallen more than a year before at Vicksburg. 
At last, death gave him merciful release from his 
sufferings, and the same comrade who had ministered 
to him so devotedly, hollowed out a grave on the sum- 
mit of blood-stained Allatoona, and laid him tenderly 
away, wrapped in his army blanket, side by side with a 
kinsman whose life went out in the same heroic stru^- 
gle, and there the bones of the patriotic lads rest to 
this day. 

The spirit of the men of that period may be dis- 
cerned in the words of a brother of the fallen soldier, 
a comrade in the same company,* who, in a touching 
letter to his parents, said : " The cause is worthy of 
the great sacrifice." And the dead lad's commander 
wrote to the heart-broken mother : " He died nobly 
in the line of duty. He was a brave, obedient and 
efficient soldier." 

" Aleck," the brother to whom the dying boy 
referred in his moments of delirium, was a lieutenant 
in the 97th Illinois Regiment. It was during the siege 
of Vicksburg that this young officer, temporarily in 



236 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



command of liis company, led it in a gallant but 
ineffectual charge upon the enemy. He fell, at his 
post of duty, with a ball through the brain. 

To noble soldierly character he added high moral 
qualities, which commanded the respect of all about 
him. Without being in any sense inclined to cant (in- 
deed, he made no pretensions to being religious within 
the ordinary meaning of the word), he was, both in 
word and deed, an example of true manliness. Without 
moral blemish himself, his conduct was a wholesome 
restraint upon those of his comrades who were inclined 
to excesses; while, upon occasions when he deemed it 
expedient, he would drop a word of admonition or 
reproof, but with so much unaffected sincerity, and 
kindly personal interest, that it could not be taken 
amiss. At one time he said: "Boys! Let us be 
guilty of no conduct that we would blush to have our 
mothers and sisters know ! " 

This gallant young officer was held in such high 
esteem by his company, that its members made up a 
purse and erected over his grave a handsome monu- 
ment. Among the devices borne thereon were the 
unfurled national flag, and an officer's sword ; while 
suitable inscriptions told the story of his death, and 
summed up his virtues as a soldier and a man. His 
remains were interred at his boyhood's home, before 
the war closed, in the presence of a large and deeply 
affected assemblage of neighbors and friends. The 



A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS. 



237 



clergyman pronounced a suitable discourse ; and an 
old, gray-headed man, an ardent unionist, and a life- 
long friend of the family, brought from his home a 
handsome national nag, and wrapped it about the 
burial-casket, and buried it with him. 

The aged father of these noble lads early enlisted 
as a private in the 7th Illinois Regiment, and, about a 
year afterward, was discharged from the service on 
account of disability. 

Soon after his son " Aleck" had fallen in front of 
Vicksburg, the sorrowing parent visited the army then 
besieging that place, in order to recover the body of 
his son. Seeking the regiment to which the young 
man had belonged, he lost his way among the numer- 
ous roads made for the passage of wagon trains to the 
various portions of the army. Presently he came to a 
number of tents without flag or guard, where sat a 
middle-aged man, wearing what appeared to be the 
blouse of a common soldier. The old man addressed 
him, stating his errand, and naming the regiment he 
sought. The man in the blouse rose from his camp 
chair, walked with him some distance, pointed to the 
proper road, bade him a kindly good-day, and then 
returned to his quarters. 

"Who is that ?" asked the old man of a soldier 
who stood by. 

" That's General Grant ! " was the answer. 

That a great general, his mind burdened with the 



238 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



plans and anxieties of a mighty military movement, 
could so simply and unaffectedly enter into sympathy 
with a plain old man, and assist him to do the last sad 
duties for the remains of one poor fallen soldier, is of 
more than passing interest. To this day, General 
Grant is enshrined in the hearts of that aged man and 
the sorrow-stricken mother, as one to be loved as well 
as honored. 

This family gave to the country, sire and sons, four 
in number, every male of arms-bearing age, two of 
whom found soldiers' graves. Yet it is but a repre- 
sentative of thousands of homes throughout the land, 
equally rich in patriotic zeal, and equally lavish in 
the sacrifice of patriotic blood. 



ON THE BACK TRACK. 



239 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 




ON THE BACK TBACK. 



FTER his repulse 
at Allatoona, 



Hood made a de- 
tour, and effect- 
ed a lodgment 
on the railroad 
farther north. 
At Resaca he de- 
manded the surrender of 
the garrison, and over his own name said, "If the 
place is carried by assault, no prisoners will be 
taken." This fiendish threat failed to intimidate the 
gallant commander, Colonel Weaver, who answered : 
" I am surprised at the concluding paragraph, to the 
effect, that, £ if the place is carried by assault, no prison- 
ers will be taken.' In my opinion, I can hold this 
post. If you want it, come and take it!" 

This heroic defiance was in itself a victory. Hood 
made no attempt upon the post, but continued up the 
railroad, destroying most of the track, and all the 



240 



JIARCHIXG THROUGH GEORGIA. 



bridges, almost as far as Chattanooga. Besides this 
damage, he burned about twenty locomotives, and 
hundreds of cars loaded with subsistence stores and 
ammunition. So thorough was the work of destruction, 
that the federal garrison at Atlanta was completely- 
isolated for nearly a month. The writer's journal notes 
that the first train from the north, after the grand raid, 
did not arrive until October 29th. 

As soon as Hood be°;an his movement. Sherman 
left the Twentieth Corps to garrison Atlanta, and with 
the remainder of his army, depleted by casualty and 
discharge to less than fifty thousand, started north 
after him. On land as well as at sea. " a stern chase is 
always a long chase." and the troops, seemingly 
engaged in a hopeless undertaking, were consumed with 
anxiety. It is not difficult, now. to discern that even 
in the early stages of the pursuit. Sherman was paving 
the way for the famous " March to the Sea." ? He had 
telegraphed General Grant that "it would be a physi- 
cal impossibility to protect the roads now that Hood, 
Forrest, Wheeler, and the whole batch of devils, were 
turned loose, without home or habitation." and asked 
permission to make the march to Savannah, promising 
to " make Georgia howl! " 

But the army was without newspapers or letters, 
and the General did not take the men into his confi- 
dence. Their only information was derived, or in- 
ferred, from what they could actually see; and, under 



ON THE BACK TKACK. 



241 



the circumstances, the outlook was anything but en- 
couraging. What did it all mean ? They were leaving 
behind them the territory that had been conquered. 
They were marching North, and their enemy was 
between them and the Ohio river. Would Hood run 
over Thomas, at Nashville, or pass around him, and 
cross the stream, before they could overtake him ? 
Were the plains of Ohio, and the prairies of Illinois, 
to become battle-fields ? Were the homes of the Union 
soldiers to be devastated, as had been those of Georgia 
and Virginia ? Had Grant been defeated before 
Richmond ? Was a part of Lee's victorious army 
following close upon Sherman's heels ? Would the 
rebellion prove successful after all, and had the 
trail of patriot blood from Cairo to Atlanta been made 
in vain ? Such were the gloomy thoughts which 
filled the minds of the travel-worn and half-starved 
troops during that apparently hopeless and purpose- 
less march. 

October 13th, the Army of the Tennessee passed 
through Rome. The region was rich in all kinds of 
supplies, and for a few days the soldiers were again 
well fed. 

It was in this neighborhood that General T. E. G. 
Ransom died. This gallant young officer was tempor- 
arily commanding the Seventeenth Corps, in the absence 
of General Frank P. Blair. Although stricken with 
disease, yet he insisted upon accompanying his com- 
16 



242 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

mand. The jolting of the ambulance caused him so 
much pain, that it became necessary to carry him 
upon a litter, and he almost died in the arms of his 
men; those who bore him, when they discovered that 
death was so near, having barely time to halt, and 
place the wounded general on a bed in a farm-house, 
before he breathed his last. 

October 21st, the army reached Gaylesville, Ala- 
bama, where the pursuit of Hood ceased. 

It was near this place that General Sherman 
received from General Grant permission to march to 
the sea, together with a hopeful, encouraging letter 
from President Lincoln ; and he immediately perfected 
his masterly plans, for the campaigns of two great and 
widely separated commands. While reorganizing his 
own immediate army at Atlanta, he was also directing 
a similar effort at Nashville. The mission of the one 
was to annihilate the war-supporting resources of the 
" Confederacy ; " that of the other, to make possible 
the mission, by drawing away the only enemy which 
was to be dreaded. How completely successful were 
these great and brilliant plans, history records. But 
the troops, through whose effort success was achieved, 
were in utter ignorance of these designs, and the 
momentous results which depended upon them. Yet. 
with earnest fidelity to the cause, and unshaken 
confidence in their commander, they cheerfully devoted 
themselves to the new and unknown task set before 
them. 



STRIPPING TO THE BUFF. 



245 




CHAPTEE XXV. 

STRIPPING TO THE BUFF. 



VENTS during the last week in Octo- 



ber, and the first ten days in 
November, 1864, were stirring 
if^l enough. The railroad, which 
had been completely wrecked 
by the enemy, was repaired 
from Chattanooga to Atlanta, 
where the bulk of Sherman's army was assembling. 
Every train going north was loaded to its utmost 
capacity with the wounded and infirm; with surplus 
artillery, and, in fact, almost everything that the men 
could not carry upon their backs. Returning trains 
brought only the most needed articles — hard bread, 
pork, coffee, sugar, and ammunition. It was evident 
even to those in the ranks that some important, if not 
desperate, undertaking was at hand. The acute- 
ness of their perception and correctness of conclusion 
were surprising. The destination of the army was 
either east, to attack Lee, or south, to the coast. This 
was settling the matter almost as definitely as the 



210 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



General himself could, for he has said, since the Avar 
closed, that at the time he had two or three alterna- 
tives continually in miAc! 

The army was now thoroughly reorganized for a 
new campaign. The Fourth Corps and Twenty-third 
Corps had been sent northward to assist General 
Thomas in disposing of Hood. General Sherman's 
immediate army now consisted of four corps, viz. : 
Fifteenth, temporarily commanded by General Oster- 
haus ; Seventeenth, General Frank P. Blair ; Four- 
teenth, General Jeff C. Davis ; Twentieth, General A. 
S. Williams. General Dodge having gone North on 
account of wounds, the Sixteenth Corps was broken up, 
its two divisions being assigned to the Fifteenth and 
Seventeenth Corps. The army was divided into two 
wings, the right wing, commanded by General How- 
ard, and the left wing commanded by General Slocum. 
The infantry numbered fifty-two thousand. In addi- 
tion, there was a cavalry force of five thousand men 
under General Kilpatrick, and about fifty pieces of 
artillery. The grand total w r as a trifle under sixty 
thousand men. 

While the work of reorganization was going on, the 
paymasters were busy with their task. There were 
many months' arrearages due the troops, the unusual 
activity of the campaign preventing disbursements at 
the regular intervals of two months. Payment might 
as well have been postponed, for the army had little 



STRIPPING TO THE BUFF. 



247 



use for money. There were no merchants in the 
vicinity, and the rapid movements of the army had 
made the war-risk of the sutler so hazardous that he 
had retired from business many months before. 

The most exciting incident of the day was the presi- 
dential election. Most of the States sent to the army 
sworn commissioners to receive the ballots of those 
soldiers who would have been entitled to vote if at 
home. The Illinois troops, however, were debarred 
this privilege, an anti-war legislature of their State 
having refused to make the necessary provision. The 
indignation of the disfranchised troops was intense; 
and there are yet living thousands of men who will 
never outlive their contempt and hatred for the politi- 
cal tricksters who put such a wrong upon them. The 
Illinois regiments, however, appointed judges, and took 
informal votes, merely by way of expressing their sen- 
timents. In the 32d Regiment, the vote was recorded 
as two hundred and six for Lincoln, and fifty-eight for 
McClellan. The McClellan vote in this instance was 
unusually large, as compared with that in neighboring 
regiments ; and the Iowa troops, who were almost 
unanimously Lincoln men, viewed the result with con- 
siderable contempt. In this canvass throughout the 
army, there was no political feeling, in the ordinary 
sense of the word. Very many of the soldiers who 
voted for Lincoln were known to be Democrats ; but 
they recognized the fact that bis reelection meant an 



248 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



earnest prosecution of the war, while there was no 
assurance of good results coining out of the so-called 
" peace policy." 

The same day, November 8th, General Sherman 
sent out Special Field Order No. 119, which was as 
follows : 

[Special Field Orders, No. ng.] 

Headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi, 

In the Field, Kingston, Georgia, November 8, 1864. 
The General commanding deems it proper at this time to inform the 
officers and men of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth and Twen- 
tieth Corps, that he has organized them into an army, for a special pur- 
pose, well known to the War Department and General Grant. It is 
sufficient for you to know that it involves a departure from our present 
base, and a long and difficult march to a new one. All the chances of 
war have been considered and provided for, as far as human sagacity 
can. All he asks of you is to maintain that discipline, patience and cour- 
age which have characterized you in the past ; and he hopes, through 
you, to strike a blow at our enemy that will have a material effect in pro- 
ducing what we all so much desire, his complete overthrow. Of all 
things, the most important is, that the men, during marches and in 
camp, keep their places and do not scatter about as stragglers or for- 
agers, to be picked up by a hostile people in detail. It is also of the 
utmost importance that our wagons should not be loaded with anything 
but provisions and ammunition. All surplus servants, non-combatants 
and refugees, should now go to the rear, and none should be encouraged 
to encumber us on the march. At some future time we will be able to 
provide for the poor whites and blacks who seek to escape the bondage 
under which they are now suffering. With these few simple cautions, he 
hopes to lead you to achievements equal in importance to those of the 
past. 

Bv order of Major-General W. T. Sherman. 

L. "M. Dayton, A. D. C. 

Accompanying this was Special Field Order, No. 
120, containing directions for the march. These were, 
in brief, as follows : 



STRIPPING* TO THE BUFF. 



249 



1. The habitual order of march, whenever practicable, to be by four 
roads, as nearly parallel as possible, and converging at points to be indi- 
cated from time to time. 

2. Each corps to have its own ammunition and provision trains. 
The separate columns of troops to start habitually at 7 o'clock in the 
morning, and make about fifteen miles per day, unless otherwise 
ordered. 

3. The army to forage liberally on the country. Each brigade com- 
mander to organize a good and sufficient foraging party, under the com- 
mand of one or more discreet officers, who will gather, near the route 
traveled, corn or forage of any kind, meat of any kind, vegetables, corn- 
meal, or whatever is needed, aiming at all times to keep in the wagons 
at least ten days' provisions for his command, and three days' forage. 
Soldiers not to enter the dwellings of the inhabitants, or commit any 
trespass ; but during a halt, or in a camp, to be permitted to gather tur- 
nips, potatoes and other vegetables, and to drive in stock within sight. 
The regular foraging parties to be intrusted with the gathering of pro- 
visions and forage, at any distance from the road traveled. 

4. To corps commanders alone is intrusted the power to destroy 
mills, houses, cotton-gins, etc , and for them this general principle is 
laid down. In districts and neighborhoods where the army is unmo- 
lested, no destruction of such property should be permitted ; but should 
guerrillas or bushwhackers molest the march, or should the inhabitants 
burn bridges, obstruct roads, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then 
commanders should order and enforce a devastation more or less relent- 
less, according to the measure of such hostility. 

5. Horses, mules and wagons belonging to the inhabitants, to be 
appropriated freely and without limit by cavalry and artillery ; discrimi- 
nating, however, between the rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor 
and industrious, usually neutral or friendly. Foraging parties may also 
take mules and horses to replace the jaded animals of their trains, or to 
serve as pack-mules. In foraging of all kinds, the parties engaged will 
refrain from abusive or threatening language ; and may, when the officer 
in command thinks proper, give certificates, but not receipts, and they 
will endeavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for their 
maintenance. 

Many of the troops neither saw nor heard of these 
orders until after the march had actually commenced ; 
many more did not hear of them at all, in an official 



250 



MAKCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



way. Army operations did not admit of the perform- 
ance of the clerical work necessary to furnish so many 
copies of these papers as were needed ; or, of holding 
dress-parades, which offered the only opportunity for 
promulgating orders meant for the mass of the army. 



"THE LAST LINK IS BROKEN. 



251 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



"THE LAST LINK IS BROKEN. 




jOVEMBEE 8th was an event 
£ul clay. Lincoln had been 
elected President, the 
paymaster had made the 
grand rounds, and orders 
had been issued for begin- 
ning another campaign. 
A veteran regiment occupied the 
old railroad eating-house known as "Big 
Shanty," a short distance from the base of Kenesaw 
Mountain. The building was enclosed by a stout 
stockade, pierced for musketry. Vivid recollections 
of scenes at this and similar posts will come back to 
many old comrades — evenings of sport, followed by 
midnight alarms which called them out to meet real 
or imagined foes. 

That night, a merry party of soldiers gathered in 
an upper room of the "Shanty," which served as the 
adjutant's office. He shared his quarters with the 



252 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



post telegraph operator, whose instruments were on 
an improvised table, Outside, a severe storm raged, 
the rain descending in torrents; within, the fun grew 
fast and furious. The boys — there is no such fitting 
word to name those dear old comrades of years ago — 
were indulging in the amusement of a "stag-dance," 
and when the word came to " swing partners," the 
" gentleman" grasped the fingers of the one with a 
piece of cloth tied about his arm, to designate him as 
a "lady." The figures of the dance were accom- 
panied with the melancholy thrumming of an old 
banjo in the hands of colored "Jerry," the mess- 
cook, who had unceremoniously left his master to 
enter upon a life of freedom. " Jerry," by the way, 
followed his new-found masters North, after the war 
ended, went to school for a time, and finally en- 
gaged in "preaching," the highest earthly ambition of 
the male contraband of those days. Three years ago, 
lie was pastor of a colored church in one of the principal 
cities in Illinois, and wore a broadcloth coat and a silk 
hat. At that time, he attended a reunion of the sur- 
vivors of the old army mess, for which he once baked 
the succulent yam, and brewed the inspiring coffee. 
The old mess, reunited so far as death and distance 
would permit, was made up of professional men who 
were accustomed to a reasonable degree of good-living 
and " form." In the army, they had all served in the 
ranks, eventually winning commissions; and one of 



u THE LAST LINK IS BROKEN." 



253 



their number, in the early days, was greatly disturbed 
to find that the army was " fighting to free niggers ! " 
But so strong was the feeling of companionship, 
growing out of old army associations, that " the Rev- 
erend Jerry," as he was called, was asked to say 
grace, and took his share of the table, and the conver- 
sation, in cordial friendliness with his white comrades. 

But to return to Big Shanty, — while the sport was 
at its height, the telegraph operator called a halt, and 
handed to the adjutant the following dispatch which 
he had just received: 

Coi?nnanding Officers of all Posts : 

This is the rain I have been awaiting so long. As soon as it is 
over, we'll be off. 

VV. T. Sherman. 

The orders for the great march, quoted in the pre- 
ceding chapter, had not reached the merry-makers at 
Big Shanty, whose regiment was temporarily detached 
from its brigade. Yet the message was readily under- 
stood. Hood was so far north that it would be impos- 
sible for him to return. There were many large and 
greatly - swollen rivers between him and Sherman, 
and his pontoon-train was known to be well-nigh use- 
less. Besides, any movement he might make south- 
ward, would bring Thomas' hardy veterans close upon 
his heels. He could no longer disturb this army, and 
Sherman need only care for what new enemy he might 
find in his front, and on his flanks. 



254 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



During the next three clays, the railroad was pushed 
to its utmost capacity, trains bringing in supplies 
from the North, and returning loaded with surplus 
artillery, sick and wounded. Late in the evening of 
November 12th, the last train bound North rolled past 
Big Shanty. It would have been a windfall for the 
enemy. It carried many officers who had resigned, 
and soldiers whose terms of service had expired. 
Large sums of money were committed to them by 
their comrades, for delivery to families or friends at 
home. One, a surgeon, had not less than twelve 
thousand dollars in his valise, enclosed in ordinary 
envelopes endorsed with the amount and the name of 
the person for whom it was intended. Fortunately, 
no accident befell the train; but it was more than 
two months before this was known to the men who 
trusted so much to uncertain fate. 

The passing by of this train awoke strange sensa- 
tions. Hearty cheers and " God bless you" came 
from scores of the homeward bound; as hearty cheers 
and fervent " Good-byes " from those left behind. 

But the brave words of both belied their hearts. 
The former gave an encouragement which was tinged 
with a feeling of dread; the latter felt an anxiety 
their shouts did not reveal. The departing train was 
the sundering of the last link connecting them with 
country and home. They were about to march out in- 
to a great unknown. It was as a voyage upon untried 



"THE LAST LINK IS BROKEN." 



255 



waters, beyond which might lie no shore. They knew 
not what course they were to pursue, what dangers 
they were to meet, what enemies were to oppose them. 
They expected battle, but what its issue would be, 
none could foretell. Those who might fall would 
leave their bones in a strange and unfriendly land 
forever. Then thought recurred to wife, mother, 
sister or sweetheart at home. What would be their 
fearful anxieties? 

A half-hour after the train was out of sight, the 
various troops along the road were set to work 
destroying the railroad, and by midnight a glare of 
light reaching from Atlanta as far northward as the 
eye could reach, revealed the thoroughness of their 
work. A regiment would scatter along one side of 
the road, each man picking up the end of a tie, then 
at the word of command, all would throw the ties eml 
over end, the fall breaking the rails loose. Then ties 
and telegraph poles were piled up and fired, and the 
rails thrown across them. The latter were soon red- 
hot in the middle, and the men would pick them up 
and wrap them around trees, or twist them with cant- 
hooks into a corkscrew pattern which it was impos- 
sible to straighten. In many instances a dozen iron 
rails were twisted around a tree or a telegraph-pole. 
The men worked with a will, seeming to take a savage 
delight in destroying everything that could by any 
possibility be made use of by their enemies. They 



256 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



attained great proficiency in these methods ; and after 
this fashion they absolutely destroyed three-fourths of 
the railroad between Chattanooga and Atlanta before 
beginning the great march; and, afterward, every mile 
of track they encountered from Atlanta to Savannah. 

These were the scenes transpiring as far north 
as Sherman's army extended. Each detachment, im- 
mediately upon accomplishing the work in its own 
vicinity, marched rapidly toward Atlanta. On the 
night of the 14th, the troops occupying Big Shanty 
set the torch to building and stockade, and followed 
the remainder of the army. There was now not a 
federal soldier between Atlanta and Chattanooga, and 
the hills and plains, which had lately echoed the fear- 
ful din of artillery and musketry, and had been alive 
with masses of fiercely contending human beings, 
were as still and desolate as if a demon of destruction 
had passed over. 

But there were monuments testifying to the fearful 
struggle — trees riven by cannon shot, and broken- 
down caissons. Here, there, and everywhere, were 
graves of those who wore the blue and those who wore 
the gray, each surmounted by a board upon which were 
rudely cut by knives of comrades, the name, company 
and regiment of him who lay beneath. But amid all 
the graves, not a single epitaph ! There was no 
time for sentiment, and death's work had no novelty 
here. 



"THE last link is broken.'* 



257 



On the night of November 15th, the torch was 
applied to the railroad shops, foundries, and every 
one of the many buildings that had been used in 
fitting out the armies of the enemy in this vast 
"workshop of the confederacy/ 5 as Atlanta was 
called. The flames spread rapidly, and when morning 
came, it is doubtful whether there were a score of 
buildings remaining in the city, except in the very 
outskirts. Sherman had determined to render the 
place utterly incapable of any more service to the 
enemy, and with this end in view all the inhabitants 
had been removed weeks before. 

The Twentieth Corps, which had garrisoned Atlanta 
while the remainder of the army was pursuing Hood 
northward, were the last to leave the city, and 
as they marched* out, the fine silver band of the 
33rd Massachusetts — who that ever heard it, will 
ever cease to remember its glorious harmonies ? — 
played "John Brown." The men took up the words 
wedded to the music, and, high above the roaring 
flames, above the crash of falling walls, above the 
fierce crackling of thousands of small arm cartridges 
in the burning buildings, rose the triumphant refrain, 
" His truth is marching on !" 

For picturesqueness and suggestiveness, the scene 
was one never to be forgotten. 



17 



258 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



.ON THE MARCH. 




-J JS^ 



HE army was now fairly out 
of Atlanta and on its 
way to the sea. It was 
a remarkable body of 
men, the like of which 
the world never saw be- 
fore, and may never see 
again. 

Sixty thousand in round numbers — it was an army 
of veterans, who had served an apprenticeship of more 
than three years at their profession, and learned 
nearly all that was worth knowing, at least far more 
than their generals knew three years before. Their 
brilliant achievements had already gone into history, 
furnishing themes for poet and scenes for painter. 
Their calendar contained scarcely a day that did 
not commemorate some more or less important battle, 
skirmish, or march. Each regiment had been re- 



ON THE MARCH. 



259 



duced by the casualties of constant service to less 
than one - third its numerical strength at the out- 
set. He was a fortunate colonel who had three hun- 
dred men remaining out of the round thousand he 
enlisted at home ; thirty men made far more than an 
average company; there were many which mustered 
less than a score. A brigade did not parade a longer 
line than did one of its regiments when it went into 
service. 

This army of veterans was also an army of boys. 
The old men and the big men had been very generally 
worn out and sent home or to the hospital. It was 
the " little devils " (as Sherman once called them in 
the hearing of the writer) who remained, and could 
always be depended upon to carry their load, march 
all day, and be ready for a frolic when they went into 
bivouac at night. Very many of them, notwithstand- 
ing three years of soldiering, were not old enough to 
vote. Many a regimental commander was not thirty 
years of age; and the majority of line and staff officers 
lacked a great deal of this advanced age. But they 
had been in the service from the beginning, and what 
they did not know about campaigning was not worth 
inquiring into. Each soldier was practically a picked 
man. Such had been the ratio of casualties that he 
may be said to have been the sole survivor of four 
men who had set out from Cairo in 1861; all but he 
having succumbed to disease or death. He had in- 



260 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



herited all tlieir experience and added it to liis own. 
He was fertile of resources, and Iris self-confidence 
was unbounded. His careless, swinging ^ait when on 
the march was the impersonation of a determination 
to u get there," although he knew absolutely nothing 
of his destination. Of that he was careless. His 
confidence in the long-headedness of " the old man " 
(General Sherman) was such that he did not dis- 
turb himself on that score. He was heading south 
instead of north, and this was ample assurance that 
Thomas was taking care of Hood, and that Grant 
was "holding Lee down." He went into action as 
unconcernedly as he took the road in the morning 
for a day's march; or, if not ordered into the con- 
flict, he would sit on a fence, or lie down in the 
road, the image of peaceful contentment, within hear- 
ing of a fierce engagement, apparently wholly indif- 
ferent as to the result. On the skirmish line lie 
frequently advanced without orders, and never fell 
back until so commanded, unless it was beyond human 
endurance to remain. He gloried in his strength, and 
believed that no effort or hardship was too great. He 
waded swamps, made corduroy roads, and pulled 
wagons and cannon out of ruts from which the bottom 
had seemingly dropped. But there was one thing he 
did not know, that in all this magnificent effort he was 
making immense drafts against his reserve energy, 
and that the day was sure to come when he would 



ON THE MARCH. 



263 



find himself far older than his years by reason 
thereof. 

This army, which had been marching light from 
Chattanooga to Atlanta, was now simply reduced to 
what it had on, and that was not much. It would have 
made a magnificent tableau for a " Beggars' Opera" 
on a stupendous scale. What few tents had been 
smuggled as far south as Atlanta were now entirely 
discarded, and only a few "flies' 1 for the various 
headquarters, and one to each regiment to shelter the 
field-desks of the adjutant and quartermaster, were 
retained. A little furniture was supposed to be 
necessary to the last named officers, but they gene- 
rally reduced this in about the same proportion as 
everything else. The greater part of their 'office" 
was carried in breast-pocket and saddle-bags, making 
more room under the "fly" for comrades who would 
otherwise have been entirely shelterless. The u fly" 
was a fair cover in fine weather, when shelter was not 
needed; but, being open at both ends, it was a sorry 
makeshift in a rain storm. Each soldier was supposed 
to carry half of a shelter-tent, which, combined with 
the counterpart carried by a comrade, made reasonable 
protection for two, but many of the men regarded them 
with contempt. The average soldier cared only for a 
blanket, and this he carried in a roll, swung over his 
shoulder, the ends being tied together, meeting under 
the opposite arm. A majority of the men discarded 



264 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



knapsacks altogether; those who yet clung to them 
carried only a shirt and a pair or two of socks. Each 
soldiei had forty rounds of ammunition in his cart- 
ridge-box and one hundred and sixty more elsewhere 
upon his person. His cooking utensils were a tin oyster 
can, in which to make his coffee, and some times one- 
half of a canteen to serve as a skillet, or frying-pan. 
His haversack contained a liberal amount of coffee, 
sugar and salt, a very small fragment of salt pork, and 
three days' rations of hard bread. This supply was 
habitually to last him ten days. It was expected that 
he would " skirmish 'round" and levy upon the country 
for such food as would be a fair equivalent for that 
large fraction of the army rations of which he was 
necessarily deprived. It is a matter of record that, 
without a single known exception, he was equal to the 
task, and proved to be such an excellent provider, that 
when he reached the sea he was in better flesh and 
spirits than when he left Chattanooga. During the 
greater part of the march, he subsisted mainly upon 
sweet potatoes and fresh beef and pork, the former 
baked in the ashes and the latter broiled upon the red 
embers of a wood fire, or held in the flame on the end 
of a ramrod, making a very toothsome meal. But 
even that grew somewhat monotonous after a time. 

The soldier's outfit was not complete without a 
"deck" of cards, and these were carried in the pocket 
so as to be convenient at any halt on the road, Fre- 



ON THE MARCH. 



265 



quent thumbing had so worn these treasured paste* 
boards, that in many instances it was an absolute 
impossibility for one to tell what card he held, if so 
be he took a hand with a party having a "deck" with 
which he was unacquainted. It is to be hoped the 
moralist will not grudge the " boys " the amusement 
they derived from the game. There were no news- 
papers, no circulating libraries, no Y. M. C. A., not 
even a tract in that desolate region. 

To sum up, no army ever marched with less im- 
pedimenta, and none adapted itself so completely or 
cheerfully to its conditions. 

The army marched in four columns, the various 
corps pursuing parallel roads. These columns were 
sometimes five, sometimes fifteen miles apart. Their 
combined front was from forty to sixty miles, for by 
day the skirmishers and flankers of each corps spread 
out until they met those of the corps next to them on 
either side, so that if anything unusual happened 
in any portion of the army, information was almost 
immediately given to the other commands. By night 
the positions of the various columns could generally 
be distinguished from their fires. 

In front of each corps marched a regiment of 
cavalry or mounted infantry. Frequently these troops, 
with the aid of the infantry brigade at the head of the 
column, were able to brush aside the enemy without 
much trouble, and without halting the main column ; 



266 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



and it was only when crossing a stream, where the 
passage was contested, that anything like a general 
line of battle was formed. Each brigade in the 
column took its turn in the advance, and likewise each 
regiment in the brigade. A cavalry brigade under 
the dashing Kilpatrick, with a few light guns, moved 
on this flank or that, as the emergency required. 

The itinerary of the march of the Seventeenth 
Corps (whose movements this narrative mainly fol- 
lows) shows the distance traveled between Atlanta and 
Savannah to have been two hundred and ninety-five 
miles. The crow's flight would make it much shorter, 
but he would not make so many flank movements 
or circuitous routes. The actual march consumed 
eighteen days. Nine days were spent in crossing 
streams where the passage was contested, or waiting 
for supporting columns. The army reached the 
defenses in front of Savannah, December 10th, but did 
not gain an entrance to the city until nearly two 
weeks later 



GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 



267 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 




Jf OVEMBEE loth, 
the first day out 
of Atlanta, the 
Seventeenth 
^ v Corps inarched 
fifteen miles, 
completing that stage of the journey 
early in the afternoon, and devoting the remainder of 
the day to destroying the railroad. The Fifteenth 
Corps pursued a parallel road to the right ; and, 
still farther in that direction, on separate roads, were 
the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps. The next day 
the columns marched sixteen miles, and resumed the 
work of railroad wrecking. On the 17th, twenty miles 
more were left to the rear, and the troops bivouacked 
on the banks of the beautiful Cahawba. 

This was a section of country which the war had 
not disturbed until this moment. It was literally a 
land overflowing with milk and honey, and well was it 



268 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



for the army that such was the case. The three 
days' rations of hard tack which the men had placed 
in their haversacks were already exhausted, and there 
was no assurance that more would be issued from the 
commissary train for seven days to come; indeed, 
there was every reason to believe that there would 
not be such an issue. 

The emergency produced the forager, commonly 
known as ''the Bummer." He was not a development 5 
he was a creation ; and no history of this most roman- 
tic and frolicsome of campaigns can be complete 
without recognizing the personality and character- 
istics of this unique type of the army. 

The Bummer had abundant warrant for his being. 
Sherman had given him a personality, and specified 
his duties ; but certainly no one could have been more 
surprised than the General himself, to see the apti- 
tude of this creature for his task, and the originality 
of his methods. 

Under general orders for subsisting the army upon 
the country, as far as possible, regular foraging par- 
ties, properly officered, scoured every road on the 
flanks of each column, gathering horses and mules 
from the plantations to replace those which had given 
out on the march, together with grain and hay for 
the animals, and meat, meal, etc., for the troops. 
These supplies were turned over to the commissary 
and quartermaster's departments, for issue ii\ the reg- 



GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 



269 



ular way. The result might have been foreseen. 
There was general dissatisfaction, for there were not 
enough hams, or chickens, or syrup, for all. Those 
who were obliged to put up with side-meat were filled 
with indignation ; and, under color of the license 
given by Sherman's orders, every regiment in the 
army sent out an independent foraging party, whose 
duty it was to see that its particular command was 
furnished with all the delicacies the country afforded. 
These men were the most venturesome in the army, 
and in their keen competition to outdo each other, 
and capture something that the others would envy, 
they took great risks and experienced many startling 
adventures. 

When the Bummer left the column on his first day's 
excursion, he either went on foot, having just quitted 
the ranks, or bareback on some broken-down horse or 
mule, which had been turned out from the wagon train 
utterly exhausted. At the first farm house he came to, 
he looked about for a fresh mount. If it was to be had, 
he helped himself ; if not, and some rival Bummer 
had not been there before him, nine times out of ten 
some darkey belonging to the place would pilot him to 
where the stock was hidden in the woods or swamp. 
Then he would search the place for provisions, and 
soon have his animal, and perhaps two or three others, 
loaded down with poultry, meats, meal, sweet potatoes, 
honey, sorghum, and frequently a jug of apple-jack; 



270 



MAECHING THEOUGH GEOEGIA. 



or he would find a wagon and load it, with the aid d 
a few negroes, and hitch together mules and horses 
indiscriminately with such improvised harness as he 
could make out of old ropes, chains and leather straps. 
But he worked hard for what he obtained. In many 
cases, smoke-houses and barns were empty, and when 
he had nearly abandoned all hope of finding anything, 
some old darkey, belonging to the premises or the 
neighborhood, would direct him to search under the 
house. Often a hint from the same source would lead 
him to open what appeared to be a newly-made grave, 
but which proved to be the repository of the provisions 
he had been vainly seeking. 

In few instances were the inhabitants found "at 
home." The majority, terrified by the horrible stories 
published by their newspapers, of the rapine and 
rapacity of the dreaded " vandal Yankees,'' had fled, 
taking with them what they could. Where the prem- 
ises were abandoned, the Bummer made a clean sweep, 
appropriating everything he wanted, and a great many 
things he did not want. If the negroes on the place 
told stories of great cruelty they had suffered, or of 
bitter hostility to the Union, or if there were blood- 
hounds about, which had been used to run down 
slaves, the injury was generally avenged by the torch. 
Where the Bummer found women and children, he 
was usually as courteous as circumstances admitted. 
He would "pass the time of day" with the old lady, 



GENESIS OE THE BUMMER. 



271 



inquire when she had heard from " the old man," and 
whether he was with Johnston or Lee, winding up 
with kissing the baby. Behind this excess of good 
nature, it mast be confessed, lay, in part, a selfish 
motive. The Bummer was a wily diplomat, and having 
established " an era of good feeling " between himself 
and his unsuspecting victim, he cross-examined her in 
an innocent and insinuating way, managing to acquire 
a great deal of valuable information. He ascertained 
what enemy had been in the vicinity, how recently, 
their course on departure, and their probable designs. 
He learned all that was to be known of the neighbors 
farther down the road, whom he expected to "raid" 
the next day — the quantity and description of sup- 
plies, and where they were to be found. Information 
under this head was usually yielded more willingly 
than upon any other subject; for it is a curious trait 
of human nature that a man (or woman) who has been 
robbed, or swindled in a trade, takes a keen enjoy- 
ment, perhaps disguised, in seeing his fellows made 
fully as miserable as himself. In return for the 
information acquired, the Bummer compensated his 
informer with Munchausen narratives of what he and 
his comrades had already done ; never failing to draw 
strongly upon a vivid imagination as to what they 
expected to do. 

In taking supplies the Bummer generally drew a 
fair line between rich and poor, and what could be 



272 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



spared and what could not. His depredations were 
dually confined to the country on either side of the 
road traveled by his own column, and he would covy-r 
■five or ten miles until he met the bummers of another 
corps; thus, these men actually swept over a breadth 
of country from sixty to eighty miles. They would 
often dodge past their own cavalry advance; and in 
many instances they attacked and dispersed the 
enemy. 

Having loaded his horses or wagons, as the case 
might be, the Bummer would head for the road upon 
which his own column was marching. By discreet 
queries he would soon learn in what direction his 
cegiment was at the time If rearward, he waited 
inside a field, until it came along: if, in front, he 
endeavored to place his outfit in the wa^on train as 
early as possible, in order to follow into camp. In 
this he was sometimes disappointed, and his acqui- 
sitions, teams, supplies and all, would be confiscated 
by some grouty quartermaster or commissary who 
did not believe in such irregular proceedings. But 
generally the Bummer knew whom to suspect, and 
when he hesitated to trust his wagon or horses in the 
train, he would conceal them near the road, and 
dispatch some one to the regiment for re-inforcements. 
The needed help soon arrived, and a score of zealous 
?haps would distribute the coveted eatables among 
themselves in a prompt and business like manner 



GENESIS OF THE BUMMEE. 



273 



One would swing a couple of hams from the end of his 
gun and trudge into camp, while others labored with 
the turkeys and chickens, or a jug of molasses, or 
a gum of honey. Sometimes an officer would attempt 
confiscation, and then the Bummer would announce 
that he was purveying for the mess of General This- 
or-That, naming some one notorious for ill-temper 
and a determination to stand up for what belonged to 
him. The fiction generally saved the provisions. 

The author recalls one who was the most perfect 
type of the Bummer he ever met. ''Snipe," which 
by the way, was not his name, was a square-built 
fellow, with light complexion, and a tuft of red beard 
on his chin. He did duty as an orderly for the 
adjutant of an Illinois regiment. When rations 
became scarce, Snipe, of his own motion, and from a 
real love of adventure, added to the duties of his 
position, those of purveyor of the mess to which his 
chief belonged. As soon as the troops left camp 
in the morning, he would strike out for a day's 
excursion. It was his particular delight to bring 
in a fresh horse for his chief almost daily; and truth 
requires the admission that he knew a good one when 
he saw it. If the animal was particularly fine, it was 
utilized at once, the one displaced being relegated to * 
the artillery or wagon train. Snipe was often absent 
a couple of days or more, and when it came to be 
believed that he had fallen a victim to his venture- 
18 



274 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



someness, he would 44 bob up serenely" with an 
unusually large and excellent supply of provisions. 

On one of tliese excursions, Snipe's absence was 
protracted into the third day. A short time before 
this, some of the bummers had been killed by the 
enemy's cavalry, and their bodies left on the road, 
with cards pinned to their jackets, reading 44 Death to 
Foragers!" Taken in connection with this incident. 
Snipe's demise was commented upon as a matter of 
fact, and a new orderly was duly installed in his 
stead. About midnight the voice of Snipe was heard 
arousing the camp. Seen in the flickering light of 
the pine-knot camp fires, he and his outfit presented a 
ludicrously striking appearance. He had six ani- 
mals, horses and mules, strung together with a 
motley assortment of improvised harness, made up of 
all sorts of odds and ends of leather, rope and iron 
chain. He bestrode one of the wheelers, and swayed 
in the saddle with an excitement which was in some 
degree the exhilaration of victory, but in greater part 
the effects of applejack. His wagon was an immense 
box of the Tennessee pattern, high at each end and 
low in the middle, similar to an old Dutch galliot, 
loaded to the guards with the choicest of wines and 
liquors; and, by fortunate chance, there was in the 
cargo a small box of glass goblets. Snipe at once had 
his wagon unloaded, with the boxes extemporized 
a bar, and grandiloquently called upon all hands to 



GENESIS OF THE BODIER. 



275 



walk up and take a drink. It is curious to note 
that every man in the regiment at once awoke and 
accepted the invitation. If they had been wanted for 
guard duty, or fatigue, it would have taken the ser- 
geant-major, an orderly-sergeant, and a stout pair of 
boots, to have awakened the very same men. Samples 
of the wine were sent to corps headquarters, and the 
general pronounced them excellent, at the same time 
intimating that a further supply would be acceptable. 
Snipe, however, failed to discover any reason for 
complying with the request, and by the assistance of 
some men from a couple of neighboring regiments, his 
stock was exhausted before daylight. 

A prank perpetrated by Dick Backer, of the same 
regiment, had a more serious side to it. Eucker was 
not a "bummer," but a quartermaster, and as such 
was one of the regularly authorized foragers contem- 
plated in General Sherman's orders at the beginning 
of the campaign. 

One day, when near Savannah, Eucker, who was 
looking for horses for his wagons, took an animal 
belonging to a clergyman, whom we will call Taylor. 
The story may be written in three scenes : 

"Can't help it, Mr. Taylor/' said Eucker. 

"But," remonstrated the clergyman, "it's the only 
horse I've got." 

"It don't make any difference,'' said Eucker, and 
he took the horse. 



276 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



"But, Lieutenant. General Sherman and I are old 
friends ! If you won't leave me my horse, at least 
give me your name, and I can get an order from the 
General to have it restored to me ! " 

'"Oh ! yes, if that'll do you any good," said 
Eucker. as he rode off with the animal. "My name 
is Lieutenant Smith, adjutant of the — d Illinois." 

The second scene was at Thunderbolt Inlet, and 
Lieutenant Smith (although that was not his name) 
was directing the embarkation of his regiment on a 
gunboat for passage to South Carolina, when a 
mounted officer rode up and accosted him. 

"Lieutenant Smith, General Sherman has directed 
General Howard to have you return the horse you 
took from Rev. Mr. Taylor, near Savannah. Please 
turn it over to my orderly." 

Lieutenant Smith, who was entirely ignorant as to 
the horse or the trick Eucker had played upon him, 
was naturally indignant, and hotly answered : 

"I don't know anything about Mr. Taylor's horse, 
and you can give General Howard my compliments 
and tell him to go to the devil ! " 

And Smith went aboard the gunboat, while the 
staff officer rode away. 

The third scene was in the vicinity of Pocotaligo, 
a couple of weeks later. As soon as the regiment 
came within easy reach of General Howard, Smith 
was ordered to report at the General's headquarters. 



GENESIS OF THE BUMMER. 



277 



" Lieutenant, yon sent me a very insulting mes- 
sage. What have you to say? " 

"General, I beg pardon for sending such a mes- 
sage, but I didn't steal any horse, and it made me 
angry to be accused of such a thing." 

" Well, Lieutenant, the evidence seems to be that 
you did take the horse. You will report to your com- 
mander as under arrest." 

Lieutenant Smith went back to his mess sadly 
crestfallen, and to add to his discomfort it became 
apparent to him that his messmates, among whom was 
Rucker, were having a great deal of fun at his 
expense, concerning something he knew nothing about. 
After some days, one of the number told of the prank 
that Rucker had played upon him, and the lieutenant 
at once wrote an explanatory note to General Howard, 
who released him from arrest. 

But it was now too late for Mr. Taylor to recover 
his horse. The army was by this time a couple of 
hundred miles away from where the animal had been 
taken. Besides, the animal had been used up and 
abandoned by the wayside. Furthermore, he was a 
worthless, disreputable beast at best, not of sufficient 
value to justify .the trouble he had caused. 



278 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 



THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 




OON after day dawns, the bu- 
gler sounds the reveille, and 
the sleeping army bestirs itself 
for another day's march. The 
men turn out unwillingly, half- 
dressed, to roll-call, and then 
gather in little knots to pre- 
pare the morning meal. One 
reawakens the all but dead em- 
bers of last night's camp-fire, 
and piles on fresh wood ; others take a bunch of can- 
teens and go in search of water. Each man makes his 
own pot of coffee. The berry is laid inside a piece of 
cloth, and broken on a stone under the blows from the 
butt of a musket ; and the delicious beverage is soon 
brewing in the old tin oyster-can held over the fire at 
the end of a ramrod. If the foragers have been suc- 
cessful the day before, sweet potatoes are baking in 
the ashes, and a piece of beef well-salted is broiling 



I 



THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 



281 



upon the glowing embers. Meat thus cooked would 
satisfy the appetite of the veriest gourmand. Scorch . 
ing by immediate contact with the fire, imparted a 
delicious flavor ; besides, all the natural juices were 
retained within. If the country was barren, the 
hunger of the men was satisfied with " hard-tack," 
and a fragment of army bacon " sizzled" in the fire. 

An hour later the bugle sounds the " assembly," 
and the troops fall in on their color-line ; each regi- 
ment, brigade and division has its appointed place 
in the column, and all move in an orderly way. 
The head of column marches out promptly at the 
appointed hour. This is a coveted place in the line of 
march. The troops occupying this position have no 
interruptions, except the occasional delays necessary 
for brushing away the enemy in front; and they 
usually reach their stopping-place for the night early 
in the evening. Those who constitute the rear- 
guard are less happily situated. They must await the 
movement of the wagon-train and fall in behind. It 
is generally noon, oftentimes later, before they are 
able to move; this delay involves a corresponding 
lateness in reaching their camping-ground, and fre- 
quently they do not settle down until nearly midnight, 
and sometimes even later. 

Well in the advance is a small detachment of cav- 
alry, or mounted infantry, moving at a good pace. 
But they are argus-eyed, and frequently halt to ascer- 



282 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



tain the occasion of a suspicious circumstance, or to 
reconnoitre the road. Two or three ride in advance, 
their reins held in the left hand, their repeating car- 
bines or Henry rifles resting across the pommel of the 
saddle, or held at the side, muzzle downward, ready 
for instant pulling to the shoulder. 

A detachment of the enemy, also mounted, is dis- 
covered, and the main body of the Union troopers are 
notified. Down the road the regiment charges, at a 
sharp trot, then at a gallop, until well within range of 
the enemy, when they break into a wild rush, urging 
their horses to the utmost speed, firing as they go. 
The enemy turns and retreats until he reaches his 
supports, and then the federal advance is checked. 
The Union skirmishers dismount, seek such shelter as 
the ground will afford, and keep up a sharp fire until 
the infantry supports hurry forward and seek the 
enemy's flanks. Meanwhile a few pieces of artillery 
open fire down the road, over their heads. In half an 
hour the enemy vanishes. The Union troops resume 
their place in the column; an ambulance drives 
rapidly forward and receives a load of bleeding 
sufferers; a grave or two is hastily dug under the 
shadow of the trees, and the march is resumed until 
the next turn in the road, a small stream, a swamp, or 
a clump of timber, offers opportunity for a repetition 
of the scene. 

These events do not disturb the main column. At 



THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 



283 



the halt the men scatter to the sides of the road; 
some drop into a doze, others reach into their haver- 
sacks and munch a piece of hard tack, while here 
and there little knots engage in the mysteries of 
euchre or seven-up. Presently a general and his staff, 
or a mounted officer, passes by, and a running fire of 
interrogatories is discharged: "How far is it to 

camp?" " What's up ahead?" "What in the 

are we stopping here for?" — followed by sarcastic 
remarks upon his appearance, or possible errand, con- 
cluding with the inevitable injunction to " Grab a 
root ! " Happy the man who, under such circum- 
stances can, either by a soft answer turn away wrath, 
or keep his tongue to himself; for an impatient retort, 
or an indication of annoyance, will provoke some keen 
remark that will pass from regiment to regiment, and 
follow him the length of the entire column, no matter 
how fast he speeds his horse. 

The enemy in front has been brushed away by this 
time, and the column is again in motion. The men 
plod along in a go-as-you-please fashion. Conver- 
sation, quip and badinage, interspersed with fragments 
of song and school-day recitations, enliven the hour. 

There is no such place to learn character as here. 
Every man is w r eighed by his comrades and his true 
value ascertained. His weaknesses may be concealed 
in society — here they stand fully revealed. Any pecu- 
liarly, good or bad, physical or mental, is detected, 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



and fastens upon him some significant appellation, 
from which lie can not escape. A particularly tall man 
goes by the name of "Fence-rail," or "Ramrod;" a 
short one by that of " Stunch," or "Shorty;" while 
one of square build is known as " Chunky or 
"Fatty." 

But traits of character are more readily recognized 
than those of person. Here is " Shakspere," so called 
from his habit of interlarding his reflections upon 
current events with quotations from books read in 
boyhood. There is "the Professor," who at home 
was a country school-teacher and cross-road lyceum 
debater. He commits what is the unpardonable sin in 
the eyes of his comrades, that of using a big word 
where a small one will answer equally well. He 
affects superior wisdom, and the initial movement of a 
campaign is as much information as he needs to 
enable him to tell all about what the outcome will be. 
If he does not know just how things are, he knows 
just how they should be. In camp, on Sunday, if 
there be no chaplain, he will expound a passage of 
Scripture before a jeering and skeptical audience, but 
is in no wise disconcerted at the unfavorable recep- 
tion given to his well-meant effort. Here, too, is 
" Grunty," whose life is a perpetual torment to him- 
self, for he becomes a butt for the jeers and pranks of 
all his comrades. To him nothing is as it should be. 
but everything is as it ought not to be. " Hog " cares 



THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 



285 



only for himself. Never a cracker or piece of tobacco 
will he divide with a comrade, and a dying man could 
scarcely hope for a drink of water from his canteen. 
."Slouchy" never carries a blanket or overcoat on the 
march, but depends upon stealing one or both when 
he reaches camp. He is intolerably filthy, and has 
not a friend who would sleep under the same blanket 
with him. 

But these are the exceptions. The great majority 
have been formed in other moulds. Amoiw them is 

o 

" Old Bully," generally a boy, and who otherwise be- 
lies his name, by not being a quarrelsome or over- 
bearing brawler, but the personification of companiona- 
bility, ever good-natured, abounding in kindly deeds 
for his fellows. Here, too, is c ' Old Reliable," a slow- 
but-sure sort of a fellow, usually older and more staid 
than most of his comrades. He has but little venture- 
someness in his make-up, but is ever one to be de- 
pended upon. At the end of the day he is always in 
camp, and is one of the first to be ready for the march 
in the morning. He is never without a needle or 
button, or piece of tobacco, that can not be had else- 
where in the regiment, and is ever willing to do a kind 
turn for a comrade, and make no fuss about it. Here, 
also, is " Fire-Cracker," a light-hearted chap, with a 
sharp tongue and a ready wit, full of quaint conceits, 
firing his jokes and repartees at his companions from 
one end of the day to the other. One such man in a 



286 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



company does better service in keeping his fellows in 
good health (so much does health depend upon animal 
spirits) than a dozen surgeons. He takes pride in 
'•keeping up with the procession," and no matter how 
many may be the stragglers on a hard day's march, he 
is always in his place. 

Now the column descends from the high land into 
the swampy bottom, which tells of the nearness of a 
formidable stream. A small but well equipped pioneer 
sorps, generally composed of negroes, has worked man- 
fully to put the road in repair, but here the greater part 
of the army must lend a helping hand. Entire bri- 
gades stack arms and tear down miles of rail-fences, and 
Barry them to make a corduroy road where the bottom 
has dropped out of the country, or fell trees by the 
roadside, if rails are wanting. The heavy army wagons 
and trains of artillery rumble across, the poor ani- 
mals suffering cruelly as their feet plunge between 
the rails. Soon the extemporized road disappears in 
the soft ooze, and a second, and even a third, roadway 
is laid, before all the trains are able to pass through 
the swamp. Meanwhile, other large detachments are 
struggling with wagons or guns whose teams are 
exhausted, or which are sunk in the mud almost 
beyond recovery — lifting them out by main strength. 

Farther on is the river. The skirmishers are 
exchanging shots with the enemy on the other shore. 
Now a couple of pieces of artillery are hurried for- 



THE EVENTS OF A DAY. 



287 



ward and pitch, shells across. The pontoon train is 
brought up, and under the protection of this fire 
the pontooniers launch their canvas boats, one after 
another, and connect them, until they reach the other 
side. The skirmishers rush across, -an infantry bat- 
talion close at their heels, and drive the enemy from 
the river bank. Planking is then laid upon the boats, 
upon which troops and trains pass over. 

On the other shore the ascent is steep, and the 
roadway is through thick, sticky clay. Hundreds of 
men apply themselves to the wheels of the heavy 
wagons and guns, while the army teamster cracks his 
whip and urges forward his weary animals with the 
choicest oaths known to the lan^ua^e. Here is a fer- 
tile field for a word-picture, but the pen quails in view 
of the immensity of the task. Nothing that ever fell 
upon human ear is to be likened to the complexity and 
comprehensiveness of the vocabulary of the army 
teamster. He knows the pedigree and performances 
of the mule, and every detail of its anatomy ; and he 
anathematizes it from one end to the other, giving a 
full bill of particulars. He runs the gamut of oaths 
in every key, and with every possible inflection of 
voice, and then profanely apostrophizes himself be- 
cause of his inability to express himself as vigorously 
as he thinks circumstances justify. 

So the day wears away. There is no halt made for 
the noon-day meal. The men eat as they march, or 



288 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



when there is a stop because of the road being blocked ; 
the provident soldier limiting himself to the fractional 
part of his ration, in order to make his provision last 
until a new issue is made ; and the reckless eating 
until all is gone, trusting to good fortune to provide 
for him on the morrow. As evening comes on, the 
steps of the men grow laggard, and they drag them- 
selves painfully along the dreary road. The jibes and 
jokes which have been bandied from man to man have 
died out, and there is only sullen silence or profane 
complaint. Then the foragers rejoin the column, and 
their treasures of eatables unloose the tongues of the 
men, and cause them to chirrup gleefully in anticipa- 
tion of the feast to come with camp and night. Anon 
the martial music strikes up, a tremendous shout is 
raised, and the column regains its buoyancy of spirit 
and elasticity of gait. 

At length the camping - ground for the night is 
reached. If the foragers have been successful, the 
men now enjoy the real meal of the day. Turkeys, 
chickens, beef and pork, vegetables of all descriptions, 
sorghum and honey, make a toothsome meal, and the 
severity of their labor gives to the men the heartiest of 
appetites. 



A REAL CAMP - FIRE, 



289 



CHAPTEE XXX e 

A REAL CAMP-FIRE. 

day's marcli over, 
3 men gather in lit- 
i knots about their 
mp - fires, without 
3ught of the weather 
making it necessary 
to huddle over the 
g 1 o w i n g embers. 
Habit lias made this 
the rendezvous ; besides, the bright blaze is conducive 
to companionability. 

The men are variously engaged. Some repair 
garments falling into pieces through long and hard 
service. Many beat the sand and dust of the march 
out of their shoes, and patch up, as best they can, 
the stockings which are so worn and ragged as to be 
little protection to their blistered, travel -worn feet. 
Others cook a fragment of meat or a potato for the 
mid-day meal on the morrow, while not a few indus- 
triously thumb a "deck" of cards. Euchre and seven- 

IQ 




290 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

up are the favorite games; but occasionally poker is 
played, grains of corn standing for " chips." 

The men produce their pipes and tobacco — was 
there one who did not smoke, and call it " solid 
comfort ? " — and discuss the events of the day. 
In this symposium, the Bummer who has been out 
foraging that day, occupies a conspicuous position. 
He is the gazette of the army. His rambles have 
led him among comrades belonging to other com- 
mands traveling far distant roads, and he knows all 
about what Slocum or Kilpatrick has been doing. 
This narrative, and his encounters with citizens on 
the plantations he has visited, he relates in a graphic 
manner, the only interruption being an occasional 
quip interjected by a listener, and at times a profane 
reflection upon the veracity of the narrator. But amid 
all the running fire of sharp retort, there is rarely 
anything but good humor. The thin-skinned man, 
who could not take a joke, wore himself out with 
homesickness, and was discharged, and the quarrel- 
some camp-bully deserted, long ago. 

Then conversation turns upon the morrow, — 
which way are we going, and what will we do 
when we get there ? It is a curious commentary 
upon the practical side of our system of education, 
that few soldiers in the ranks, (and nearly all had at 
least attended public school,) had any sufficiently 
clear recollection of geography to be able to figure 



A REAL CAMP - FIRE. 



291 



out their, actual position. They knew they were 
heading south, or southeast, as the case might be ; 
they had gathered from citizens that their direction 
was towards Savannah or Mobile, but that was all. 
Even the large rivers they crossed were not con- 
spicuous enough landmarks to give many their 
bearings. 

This subject disposed of, the boys would fill up the 
evening with such anecdote and song as grew naturally 
out of the conversation. 

There was less singing in the army than the latter- 
day " Camp-Fire " would lead the uninformed to 
believe. In the early days it was different. Then, 
a prayer meeting was held almost nightly in some 
quarter of the regiment, and the songs sung vere 
of the "I'm going home!" and " When shall Ave 
meet again ? " order, but these soon outlived theic 
usefulness. They were too suggestive of death and 
the judgment, and the realities of active service in 
the face of the enemy was sufficient. For similar 
reasons, the boys did not take kindly to songs of a 
mournfully domestic order, such as u We shall meet, 
but we shall miss him," and " We are sitting by 
the cottage door, brother." Neither did such as 
" We are coming, Father Abraham," or " Down with 
the traitor, and up with the star," attain any great 
popularity in active war-days. The one was a rallying 
song for recruits, and these were veterans ; the other 



292 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



was a sentiment which could be safely sung a thous- 
and miles at the rear; but those who were at the 
front had learned the magnitude of their contract, and 
they did not care to do any unnecessary boasting. A 
new love ditty with a taking melody was favorably re- 
garded, but what the boys really ached for, and sang 
with a joyous abandon, was some comic song such as 
" Darkies, hab you seen de massa ? " or " Brigadier 
Bralaghan;" or such roystering verses as "The 
Bould Sojer Boy," or " Benny Havens, oh ! " and it was 
rarely that a really ribald song met with much favor. 

Johnny , a sadly illiterate but true-hearted boy, 

furnished great amusement with his one solitary song, 
not exactly of a Sunday-school pattern, something 
about his grandfather's ram, which he sang daily and 
nightly for nearly four years, until, poor fellow, he 
was killed at Bentonville. In his innocence he never 
suspected that his comrades were "guying" him when 
* they asked him to sing. x Then there was " Jerry," 
the cook for an officers' mess — the " Fine-Haired 
Mess" it came to be known, but why, is scarcely 
apparent — who also had but one song, but that one 
a great favorite, which he sang in a most melancholy 
heart-broken way, with up-rolled eyes, to the dismal 
thrumming of an old banjo: 

* 4 O ! far' you well, my Mary Ann, 
Far' you well my dear ! 
I've no one left to love me now, 
An' little do I keer ! 



A EEAL CAMP-FIRE. 



293 



"O! if I had a scoldin' wife, 
As sho' as you is bo'n, 
I'd take her down to New Orleans, 
An' trade her off for co'n ! " 

But anecdote growing out of the events of the day 
was the principal pastime, and every regiment could 
yield sufficient to furnish themes for poet and scenes 
for painter. 

One evening a soldier displayed the picture of a 
fair young girl. He had taken it from an enemy, 
dead on the field of battle. "Blame me ! " said he, 
"but it just made me sick. And he was a nice-look- 
ing young feller, too. Why, he had the picture held up 
right before his eyes, and he had just as natural and 
sweet a smile on his face as if he was alive ! " 

""Well," said a comrade, " at least I'd a let the 
poor chap been buried with his picture! " 

" Stealin' that picture," said another, "was about 
as mean a trick as Jack Kuggles did the other day. 
"Why, he came across a dead Johnny, lyin' flat on his 
face, and he turned him over and took a plug of black 
navy out of his pocket and took a chaw, and smacked 
his lips and said it was mighty good. I've been 

hungry for tobacco, but me if I want any out of 

a dead man's pocket." 

"Say, Stunchy," said another, "don't you remem- 
ber the Johnny we buried in front of our lines at 
Shiloh, with a cartridge between his teeth? A bullet 
hit him in the head and killed him. He never fell 



294 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

over nor moved a muscle, and there he was, dead on 
his knees behind a stump, his gun in one hand, his 
hand up close to his mouth, with the big part of the 
cartridge in his fingers, and the paper he had bit off 
the end still 'tween his teeth. We couldn't straighten 
him, and we buried him just so." 

" You bet I remember that, and I mind a derned 
hard jolt I got on Monday night, when the battle was 
over. The Johnnies run us out of our camp the first 
day, and when we got the bulge on 'em and whooped 
'em out, I went to my tent to see what was gone, and 
there was a blamed Johnny lying there asleep, at least 
that's what I thought he was doing. I shook him and 
hollered at him, but he didn't answer, and then I 
found he was dead. He was shot bad, and crawled in 
there after he was wounded, I reckon. But he might 
have gone in for plunder and been killed while he was 
in there. There was an awful stiff fight in that camp, 
and the tents were riddled full of holes." 

" Talking about men being killed," remarked an- 
other," reminds me of Colonel Jones, of the 53d 
Indiana, You all remember how he was wounded that 
awful hot day McPhorson was killed. While they 
were carrying him off tli3 field a shell exploded close 
by and killed him. He was a fine officer and a nice 
man, and I heard some of the officers up at division 
headquarters telling a pretty good story that he was 
responsible for. It seems that when Lincoln was a 



* 



A REAL CAMP - FIRE. 



297 



young chap he was working for an old skinflint that 
kept a cross-roads store. Lincoln wanted a pair of 
boots, and as the storekeeper didn't owe him enough 
to pay for them, Lincoln asked him to let him have 
the boots and take the pay out of his wages when he 
owed him enough. 

"'No,' said the storekeeper, 'you just wait till 
you earn the money, and then you'll get the boots! ' 

" Well, when Lincoln was elected, the old man 
wanted to be postmaster, so he wrote, telling the 
President what he was after, and for fear Lincoln 
wouldn't remember him, said that Lincoln had been 
his clerk once. 

"After a while he got a letter from Lincoln, saying 
he was very sorry the office had been promised to 
another man. And he also wrote: 

" 1 You need never fear that I will forget you, old 
friend. I remember you very well, especially the 
boots!' 

"Lincoln wasn't a bit malicious about it, but you 
see he couldn't lose so good an opportunity for a 
joke." 

"It's all very well, you fellows talking about dead 
men, but I tell you, boys, I'd just as lief be killed as 
scared to death, as I was almost at Vicksburg." The 
speaker continued : 

"You see, I went home from Memphis on a fur- 
lough, and when I got back there my division had 



298 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



gone to Yicksburg. I was corralled at Fort Pickering 
and put to work on the fortifications until there was a 
big enough, squad of us to put on a boat and* send 
down river. 

" Well, we got started, and went up Yazoo river to 
Haines* Bluff. We landed there about five o'clock in 
the evening. There were two others besides myself 
who belonged to Lauman's division, and we asked 
where it was. They told us it was about six miles on 
the left, and we made up our minds to reach it that 
^ night. 

"We walked along pretty briskly, and it got to be 
dark, and finally we ran up against some tents, and 
asked who lived there, and the guard said it was 
General Hovey's headquarters. We asked where 
Lauman's division was. and he said we were heading 
for it. and to go straight ahead. 

"Well, after awhile we saw some camp fires, and 
we walked towards them, but thev were a good wavs 
off. Then we got into a hollow where we couldn't see 
them, but supposed we were going in the right direc- 
tion. Pretty soon we came to a hill and commenced 
climbing it. We were all singing a new song we had 
learned while at home on furlough, and were just in 
the middle of the chorus, "Dear Annie, dear Annie of 
the Yale." when a blaze of fire jumped right out of 
the hill and the bullets whistled around by baskets- 
full. "We all turned to run, and my foot caught some- 



A EEAL CAMP - FIRE. 



299 



thing and I fell. The hill was pretty steep, and my 
knapsack, full of goodies from home for the boys, 
made me top-heavy, and I rolled down hill, end oyer 
end, and landed, ker-chug, in a ravine lined with 
underbrush. The other boys were nowhere to be seen, 
and I tell you I was scared. The bullets came raining 
through the brush from both sides. 

" Well, I lay all night in a cold sweat. The idea 
of being killed down there, all by myself, and mother 
never know what had become of me. was awful. 

" Next morning I made up my mind to reconnoitre, 
but the guns began to crack again from both sides, 
and then artillery, and I found that I was between the 
Union and rebel lines, and I tell you I hugged the 
ground close. 

" After a while the artillery let up. and then there 
was only a few rifle shots. I had studied the lay of 
the ground and got the points of the compass, and 
made up my mind which way I ought to go to get 
into the Union lines. Then I rose up on my knees 
and looked through the brush, and on both sides of 
me I saw earthworks, and noticed that farther to the 
south they bent away from each other. So I con- 
cluded to follow the ravine farther that way, and I did 
so, crawling on my hands and knees for fear I would 
be shot at. Then I took another observation, and 
found that the works on my left, which I took to be 
the Union side, had run out. 



300 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



" Then I took a white pocket-handkerchief out of 
my pocket — you see I was just from home — and tied 
it on a stick, and made up my mind to surrender to 
the first man I came across, Yankee or Johnny. So I 
marched along to the left, at right angles from the 
ravine, when somebody halted me — he was about two 
hundred yards off — and I waved my white flag. It 
was a squad of cavalry, and, great Scott! but I was 
glad to see that they wore blue coats! 

"Well, I told them my story, and who I was, and 
showed their officer my furlough, and he told me how 
to get to the division. On the road there, I came 
across a camp where the men were at dinner — it was 
noon, now — and as I was hungry, I asked for some- 
thing to eat. They told me to sit down with them, 
and while we were eating they told about a desperate 
charge the Johnnies had made on them the night 
before. From the way they described it, I knew it 
was us three fellows singing, 'Dear Annie of the 
Vale!' 

" Then I found my division. It seems it had not 
moved up so as to complete the line .of investment, 
but was well back in the rear and to the left of the 
line, and we wanderers had gone clear around the 
left flank of our own lines, and got in between them 
and the rebels. Then we got turned around, not 
knowing where we were, and marched right up in 
front of our own rifle-pits! 



A BEAL CAMP - FIRE. 



301 



"One of my comrades that night, got into camp 
all safe. The other was never heard of, and he was 
probably shot and died somewhere in the thicket 
where I spent such a miserable night. But for 
nearly three months that ground lay half-way between 
the two lines, and there was no chance to go and look 
for a body ; besides, the underbrush was so thick and 
covered so much space, that it might never have been 
found anyway." 

"Yes," said another, "there were some curious 
circumstances in that Vicksburg campaign. I mind 
that General Hurlbut had a scout whose name was 
Bell. He was from Galesburg, and an awful smart 
chap. You remember we had Pemberton cooped up 
in Vicksburg, and Jo Johnston was out behind Black 
River, in our rear, and they were trying to agree 
upon a concerted movement to smash Grant, who was 
in between them. This Bell deserted and went to 
Johnston, and somehow or other got into his confi- 
dence, and undertook to carry a dispatch through 
Grant's lines to Pemberton. He also took along 
a lot of gun caps, which were badly needed by the 
Johnnies in Vicksburg. Hurlbut knew all about the 
scheme, and when Bell tried to get through the lines 
he was captured by Hurlbut 7 s pickets and taken to 
the General. 

"The officers had a hard job making out the 
cipher dispatch, but they finally read it as follows : 



302 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



4 ' My last note was brought back by the messenger. 
Two hundred thousand caps have been sent. It will 
be continued as they arrive. Bragg is sending a 
division. When it comes I will move to you. AYhich 
do you think the best route? How and where is the 
enemy encamped? What is your force ? ' 

" Well, Bell's gun-caps were dampened so as to be 
useless, and he was allowed to go into Vicksburg with 
them and his dispatch. The next day he came back 
with an answer from Pemberton, and that gave away 
the whole job. Grant had found out where Johnston 
was to make his rear attack, and he fixed for him. 
The upshot was, that Vicksburg surrendered before 
Johnston knew it, and then Grant turned and smashed 
him." 

" Say, boys," broke in a comrade in the uniform of 
a lieutenant. " Tou don't know how near I came to 
having a commission long before I did, do you ? 

" While we were laying at Natchez, General 
Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General of the Army, 
came down to look after his pet hobby of arming 
the negroes. I was chief clerk for General Crocker's 
adjutant - general then, and one morning General 
Thomas came into the office when I was alone. Says 
he, - General Crocker gives a good account of you. 
How would you like to have a commission as adjutant 
of a negro regiment ? ' 

"It came so bluntly, and his voice was so kind, 



A REAL CAMP-FIRE. 



305 



it took me off my feet. After a few moments I 
said : 

" ' General, I am proud to have the confidence 
of General Crocker and yourself, but I can't take it.' 

" The General looked as if he did not know what 
to make of it, and I went on : 

" ' General, I am very grateful to you; and I want 
to say that I am fully in sympathy with the purpose 
of arming these people. I am an original abolitionist, 
having been brought up on Greeley's Tribune ; but I 
started out in this war with my schoolmates and 
work-shop companions. If I can win a commission 
serving with them, I will be glad of it. But if I 
can not, I will serve with them as a private to the 
end.' 

" The General didn't speak for a few minutes, and 
then he said : 

" 1 Young man, I respect your feelings, and I 
hope and believe you will gain your desire before the 
war is over. Now, I will be here for a couple of 
weeks, and if you know of any corporals or sergeants 
who would make good company officers, and take 
commissions with negro troops, let me know.' 

"Well, boys, I remembered that, and most of the 
men in this regiment who received such commissions, 
were appointed largely upon my recommendation. 

"I had another good chance," he continued, "just 
after the siege of Vicksburg. You remember that 
20 



306 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



division commanders were instructed to report the 
names of young soldiers who had behaved themselves, 
for appointment to West Point cadetships. Well, my 
name was sent in, but I would n't accept. I started in 
to see this war through, and here I am;' 

" Now, byes, it's domd sthrange how aisy the 
shoulder-sthraps came to some of yees, and how harrud 
it was for some of the rist of us." The speaker was a 
tall, raw-boned Irishman, wearing the chevrons of a 
sergeant. He continued : 

" I was on garrud juty at Gin'ral Chrocker's hid- 
quarthers, back of Vicksburg, and wan day some uv the 
byes made up their minds for a little spoort. So we 
sint to Boviny for a gallon of whishkey, and put it 
away in a tint, ready for night. Well, it happened 
that some of the eshcort company shmelt it, an' they 
s thole it, and had the divil's own time. Some uv thim 
was quarrelsome chaps, an' they had a bit of a shindy. 

"In the mornin', the Gin'ral — he was a fine sowl- 
ger, an' a mighty good man, but cross as the very divil 
sometimes — he had thim brought up af oor him, an' 
sint thim to the garrud-house. 

" Now, you say, we did n't intind to be lift widout 
our fun, so we got another jug of whishkey, an' that 
night we had some rare spoort. The Gin'ral's wife 
had come down river that day, an' was quarthered wid 
him at the big brick house, an' it's aisy to belave that 
she was dishturbed by the noise. Anyhow, it was n't 



A EEAL CAMP-FIRE. 



307 



long aftker I crawled into me tint, afoor I hurrud 
somebody a-thumpin' on the canvas from the outside, 
an' thin the Gin'ral — I knew his voice in a minit — 
says he, ' Corporal o£ the Garrud ! ' — you see the 
corporal shlept in the same tint wid mesilf — ' Corporal 
of the Garrud ! In the mornin' bring thim drunken 
divils to me office ! I'll tache thim a lesson ! If 

there's any gittin' dhrunk and raisin' to be done 

about these headquarthers, I'll do it mesilf, be gobs ! ' 
says he. 

" "Well, byes, I was mighty bad scared. The Kur- 
renal had ricomminded me for promotion, an' he was a 
Prisbytarian, an' awful sthrict, an' I knew if he got 
howld of this schrape it was all day wid me prospicts. 
You may belave I did n't slape a wink, but did a pow- 
erful thinking an' made up me mind what I wud do. 

"In the mornin' I got up airly an' took a drink to 
sthiffen me narves, an' wint sthraight to the adjutant's 
office, an' as good luck would have it, there was the 
Gin'ral all by hisself. 

" I made my. best shalute, an' says I, £ Good mornin', 
Gin'ral ! I hope your honor is well this fine mornin'.' 
An' then I says, not givin' him time to spake back : 
' Gin'ral,' says I, ' I desire, sir, to repoort mesilf as 

wan of thim drunken divils that raised last night. 

I just made a domb lamb's-tail of mesilf, sir, an' I 
hope your honor will excuse me this wanst ! ' 

"It took the Gin'ral just right, an' he begun to 



308 



MAECHING THKOUGH GEORGIA. 



laugh, an' says he, ' "Was there any fightin' last 
night ? ' 

"'Divil a bit, your honor,' says I. 

" ' An' are yees an Irishman ? ' says he. 

" 'By no manes, sir,' says I. 'Me father was from 
County Corruk, but I was borrun in this counthry,' 
says I. 

" An' thin the Gin'ral laughed all over, an' 
says he : 

" 4 It's domb lucky for yees,' says he, 6 that you was 
borrun in this counthry. I've always noticed whin a 
full-blooded Irishman gets dhrunk, he wants to fight. 
I don't want to inter fare wid anybody's innocent 
amusemints, but I won't allow anybody around these 
headquarthers to get dhrunk and fight ! Go to your 
quarthers, sir ! ' 

" That was the last av it, but the sthory got out, 
an' divil of a commission have I sane ! " 

Meanwhile the men drop away gradually to their 
shelter-tents and blankets, each one seeking such spot 
as may suit his convenience, preferably snug up 
against the root of a great tree. So little semblance 
is there of the permanent camp, with its color-line, its 
officers' tents, and the avenues separating the quar- 
ters of the various companies, that the sergeant-major 
has no little trouble to find the orderly-sergeants, and 
they the men, when a midnight call is made for fatigue 
or picket duty. 



A REAL CAMP-FIRE. 



309 



The camp-fires now die down ; and, environed by 
hundreds of vigilant sentinels, the army sleeps upon 
another of its countless bivouacs. 

]?ar along in the night, an orderly from brigade 
headquarters rides into camp, and calls for the adju- 
tant, to whom he hands a circular order directing the 
command to inarch in a certain direction at a desig- 
nated hour on the morrow. The adjutant acknowledges 
receipt, by writing his name on the back of the order, 
which the orderly takes to the next regiment, until all 
have been notified. The men neither know nor care 
anything about the incident, and the bugle-sound in 
the morning is their only warning that another day's 
march is to begin. 



310 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XXXI. 



WORKING A PASSAGE. 




fj| OYE1EBEB 18th, 
the troops raarch- 
e cl eighteen 
miles, crossing 
the Ocmulgee 
river on j^on- 
toons. Here some ex- 
tensive cotton factories were des- 
troyed. On both sides of the stream, for many miles, 
the roads lay through low, flat ground, sodden with 
recent rains, and the heavy wagon trains soon con- 
verted them into almost bottomless abysses of mud, 
entailing upon the men severe labor in corduroying, 
and extricating artillery and wagon trains — work to 
which necessity had already accustomed them, and 
which was to be almost a daily experience hencefor- 
ward to the close of the war. 



WORKING A PASSAGE. 



311 



The next day the troops passed through the beauti- 
ful town of Monticello. No male inhabitants were to 
be seen, except young boys and infirm old men. The 
rebel conscription act had literally " robbed the cradle 
and the grave," as the expressive phrase of the day 
had it, driving into the ranks all who could possibly 
do any manner of military service, whether in the 
field, in garrison, or guarding prisoners. A few 
women occasionally peered curiously from their win- 
dows, but usually they kept themselves well hidden 
from sight. The negroes turned out in full force to 
hail their deliverers. It was remarkable that the 
federal army found among the most ignorant of this 
enslaved people, who had been continually told that 
the dreaded "Yankees" were demons and not men, 
an unshaken faith that the coming of this army was 
to bring to them freedom from bondage, and many 
extravagant scenes were witnessed. It was not an 
unusual occurrence to see negroes fall upon their 
knees by the roadside, as the troops passed by, and 
hear them bless God and the boys in blue in one and 
the same breath. They manifested an ardent anxiety 
to see General Sherman, and in some instances 
addressed him or spoke of him with a reverence and 
extravagance of expression which they could not have 
exceeded had he been the Savior of mankind. Thou- 
sands of these poor people left their humble homes, 
carrying their children and a few household effects, 



312 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



and, falling in behind the soldiers, trudged along, with 
no idea of where they were going, except that they 
were on the highway from slavery to freedom. It was 
useless to tell them to stay at home ; that they would 
be freed by the war wherever they might be, and 
that the troops could not feed them. With a blind 
faith, they persisted in the journey, braving all hard- 
ships, until they reached the coast and were provided 
for. 

There was another remarkable trait in the slave 
character — -their entire devotion to the soldiers of the 
Union. The writer has never heard of a single in- 
stance where one of these blacks, man or woman, ever 
betrayed a blue-coated straggler, or escaping prisoner, 
into the hands of the enemy; but, on the other hand, 
they gave them every possible assistance, secreting 
them by day, feeding them and assisting, them on 
their journey by night. Still more wonderful was the 
knowledge these ignorant people had of military 
movements. Much sport was made in early war times 
of the "intelligent contraband," whose narratives 
were given to the press by war correspondents; but 
his news was usually reliable in its general terms, 
although ignorance led him into exaggerations when- 
ever a numerical force was in question. In countless 
instances, the negroes along Sherman's line of march 
through Georgia and the Carolinas had information of 
the advance of his troops, and of their achievements, 



WORKING A PASSAGE. 



313 



long before seeing them, and knew of victory or dis- 
aster in Tennessee, Virginia, or on the coast, before 
many of the white people about them did. It was 
believed by the Union soldiers that the negroes trans- 
mitted the news by swift runners, traveling day and 
night, and the belief is plausible in view of all the 
facts. 

The next four days after leaving Monticello, the 
army marched fifty-five miles, reaching the Oconee 
river. 

Hitherto, the cavalry and mounted infantry in 
advance, with occasional assistance from the leading 
brigade of each column, had been able to brush aside 
the enemy in front; but here the passage of the 
stream was disputed by a strong force of infantry and 
artillery on the opposite bank. Deserters and pris- 
oners stated that among the enemy's troops were six 
hundred convicts from Southern penitentiaries who 
had been put under arms. Many of the latter were 
taken prisoner, but General Sherman at once ordered 
them to be liberated, shrewdly concluding that they 
would trouble their own people more than they could 
him. 

November 23d and 24th, the opposing forces skir- 
mished incessantly, and there was considerable artil- 
lery firing. The next day a sharp little engagement 
occurred, in which Belknap's brigade took the prin- 
cipal part. Under cover of its fire, three miles of 



314 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



high railroad trestlework through the swamp were 
destroyed. Later in the day a crossing was effected 
at Fall's Ferry, higher up the stream, with little 
opposition. 

Near the Oconee river the troops came in possession 
of some late Southern newspapers containing the first 
information they had received from the outer world in 
nearly two months. The ill-looking pages, imprinted 
upon dingy paper, almost as dull in color as that in 
which the butcher wraps his meat, was of a verity, 
" lux lucet in tenebris" a light shining in darkness. 
Loud-voiced readers were called into requisition, and 
the contents were listened to by thousands, who 
drowned the voice of the reader, ever and anon, with 
exultant cheers, or howls of derision, as the para- 
graphs pleased or displeased them. 

First, and all-important, was the news that Lincoln 
had been re-elected to the Presidency, and the Govern- 
ment had called out more troops. Referring to this, 
the editor denounced the Northern democracy bitterly 
for " permitting the election of the hated despot," and 
said that there was now no longer hope from without, 
but the Southern people must achieve their own free- 
dom. It was a curious fact that among the means to 
this end was urged the freeing and arming of half a 
million slaves — this, too, by a people who had set out 
to establish a government with slavery as the corner- 
stone. This, however, would require time, and the 



WORKING A PASSAGE. 



317 



immediate emergency demanded that the white people 
of the South, men, women and children, should rise 
against the invaders. In order to inflame their pas- 
sions, the paper contained many horrible falsehoods 
with reference to "the great raid," as they termed 
Sherman's march, giving scandalous narratives of rob- 
bery, rapine and murder. They spoke of Sherman as 
"the great raider, horse-thief and murderer," and pro- 
nounced awful curses upon him and his vandal fol- 
lowers. In other columns were found inflammatory 
appeals from military and civil authorities, calling 
upon the inhabitants to harass the troops in every 
conceivable way ; to fire upon them from behind every 
barn and stump; to burn bridges, and fell heavy trees 
across the roads in their line of march ; and to remove 
or destroy all provisions and forage in their track. 
Frantic efforts were made to comply with some of these 
requests, and the movement of the army, from the 
Oconee river to Savannah, required redoubled effort. 
The citizens were too discreet to carry out the guer- 
rilla warfare urged upon them, which, while delaying 
the army in no great degree, would have made it nec- 
essary to hang a few of their own carcasses from the 
trees lining the roads. But the roads were blocked 
with felled trees almost the entire distance, and it be- 
came necessary to send large working detachments 
from the marching column to assist the pioneer corps, 
which, under usual circumstances, were able to keep 



318 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

the way sufficiently clear to admit of tlie passage of 
artillery and supply trains. Again, throughout this 
same region, so thorough was the destruction or 
removal of provisions, that for many days the troops 
were obliged to subsist almost entirely upon peanuts 
and parched rice taken from the fields, the contents 
of the supply trains being well-nigh exhausted. 



THE OGEECHEE. 



319 



CHAPTER XXXII. 




THE OGEECHEE. 



OVEMBEIi 28th, 29th and 
30th, the army marched 
forty - six miles, entering 
upon the region of the 
savannas. Here the srreat 



pine trees rose straight in air nearly 
a hundred feet, surmounted at the top by a 
crown of brilliant green. But few branches projected 
from the trunks, and those far from the ground. The 
trees were not thickly set, and the ground was remark- 
ably free from undergrowth, permitting the troops to 
march on either side of the road, which was left clear 
for the wagon train, thus shortening the column fully 
one half. 

December 1st, the army crossed the Ogeechee river 
and engaged in its old- task of destroying the railroad. 
This piece of track afforded unusual opportunity for 



320 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

tlie most thorough exercise of the destructive propen- 
sities of the troops. The rail was of the light pattern, 
such as is generally used now for horse-car tracks, 
laid upon wooden stringers about eight inches square, 
which rested on the usual ties. Both stringers and 
ties were of pitch-pine, and burned readily, while 
the iron was so light that it soon heated to cherry 
red, when it was readily wrapped around fence posts 
and trees, the men exercising their fancy in the 
construction of iron " neckties" of curious pat- 
terns. Particular attention was given here, as at other 
points where railroads were destroyed, to the glass 
insulators on the telegraph poles. These were either 
broken with axes, or thrown into the waters of the 
adjoining swamps, and were not readily replaced by 
the enemy. In fact, the whole mechanical system of 
the South was an importation ; and as soon as armies 
drew a line between North and South, that moment 
the South beo-an to «fo down. With Northern mar- 
kets closed to it, railroads, cotton-works, and nearly 
everything in the way of machinery, fell into decay; 
scarcely a cog-wheel could be replaced by Southern 
mechanics. Their railroads were wonderfully run 
down; and in very many instances a train might be 
s heard at considerable distance, from the creaking of 
the wheels in the axle-boxes, because of the absence 
of oil. 

December 2nd the army came to Millen, which had 



THE 0GEECHEE. 



321 



been a large prison-pen for the safe-keeping of Union 
prisoners. The cavalry advance made a rapid move- 
ment upon the place, hoping to release their unfortun- 
ate comrades, but were dismayed to find that they 
had been removed to a less accessible point. 

December 9th, the troops reached a point seven 
miles from Savannah, having marched forty-five miles 
since the 3d. At this place the soldiers were greatly 
rejoiced to hear the guns of the Union fleet ; and to 
learn from citizens that the ships had been sending 
up signal rockets nightly for some time past, in 
anticipation of the arrival of the army. It mattered 
little that the principal obstructions, an hostile army 
and strong fortifications, yet separated soldiers and 
sailors. The former felt that their success was 
assured, and, at the worst, only a few days would pass 
until the two would clasp hands. 

The next day, December 10th, the march was 
resumed, Belknap's brigade leading the Seventeenth 
Corps. Here the troops ran hard up against the 
enemy at a point near the stone reading "4 miles to 
Savannah.'" At this place torpedoes had been planted 
in the road, and the cavalry advance exploded some of 
them in passing along. General Sherman was greatly 
enraged at what he denounced as conduct not justified 
by the laws of war, and he caused prisoners to pass 
up and down in order to test the road. It was, how 7 
ever, the opinion of the writer of these pages, that the 

21 



322 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



torpedoes were placed, not so much for the loss of life 
they might occasion, as to give notice of the occu- 
pancy of the road, their explosions serving as signals 
for the enemy to open fire with their heavy guns. 
This conclusion seemed reasonable from the fact that 
the guns were trained directly down the road, which 
was screened from sight of the artillerists by the 
heavy growth of trees, and that fire was opened imme- 
diately after the explosion of the torpedoes. These 
engines were used, however, at some points where the 
explanation would not hold good. 

The line of march lay down a broad sand road, 
lined on either side with live-oak trees whose branches 
met over-head, forming a beautifully arched avenue, 
straight as an arrow. Suddenly the troops came 
to a clearing perhaps a quarter mile wide. The 3 2d 
Illinois Regiment was in front, and as the adjutant 
and the old grizzled major who was in command, 
riding side by side at its head, left the wooded avenue 
and entered the clearing, a shell rose from over the 
timber in front. It had evidently been projected from 
a great distance, for it was falling fast in its trajec- 
tory, and in a direct line for the regiment. Usually 
these missiles were heard, but not seen, and familiar- 
ity with the sound had bred a certain degree of 
contempt. But this shell is plainly visible, from the 
instant it rises over the timber in front, and it holds 
the gaze as did the glittering eye of the gray-beard 



THE OGEECHEE. 



323 



Ancient Mariner that of the wedding guest. It seems 
to be charged with a personal message. Its motion 
appears to be slow and deliberate; it is so sure of its 
mark that there is no need for haste. At first it is 
a small black blotch on the sky. It grows. It is as 
large as a tin-cup — as a plate — a barrel. Now its 
immensity fills the entire field of vision, shutting out 
trees and sky. "Will it explode before it comes 
near enough to do damage? Why don't we "flank 
off " to one side of the road, and give this demon of 
destruction a clear right of way? There are no 
orders. Shall we "dodge," and allow it pass over- 
head, rather than sit up straight as a target for it? 
Certainly, if the major will only "dodge" first. But 
he does not, and pride will not permit his companion 
— when, sh-sh-sh — the shell passes over, very low 
down. Thought has traveled far more rapidly than 
iron propelled by gunpowder. The danger is past.- 

A few moments later the troops left the road, 
formed line-of -battle through the timber on the left, 
and deployed skirmishers. This was scarcely done, 
when some one brought word that the shell whose 
course has been noted, had played havoc with the 
color company of the regiment. Riding hastily back 
to the road, the adjutant found Ed Lawson, the 
captain, with five men of the company following his 
own, stretched out upon the ground, all wounded, 
but none killed. The shell had exploded at the head 



324 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



of Lawson's company, the center of the regiment, 
and a fragment struck him in the lower part of the 
stomach, bruising him severely. He subsequently 
recovered, yet it is not too much to say that this 
injury hastened his death, which occurred a few 
years afterwards. He was one of a squad of noble 
fellows who formed the nucleus of the company men- 
tioned in the opening chapters of this volume ; a most 
conscientious soldier, as well as a man of excellent 
deportment, and unimpeachable personal character. 
He rose from the ranks to the grade of orderly ser- 
geant, and filially became captain of the company in 
which he had enlisted as a private. 

Near the point where the troops entered the tim- 
ber and went into line-of-battle, was General Sher- 
man. He had dismounted, and was walking ner- 
vously up and down the side of the road, his head 
bent over on his breast, his hands crossed behind 
him. He seemed intent upon his own thoughts, and 
oblivious to the volleys of shell and shot which tore 
down the road. Those who saw him in this situation 
thought that he was exposing himself unnecessarily, 
and heartily wished, for the sake of all concerned, 
that "the old man" would seek a safer place, at least 
until the Savannah problem was solved, and the 
cracker-line re-established. 

For ten hours the troops lay under as hot an 
artillery fire as they ever experienced; a cannonade 



THE OGEECHEE. 



325 



from field pieces in actual action, would have been 
far preferable. As it was, they were posted in dense 
pine timber, and the heavy missiles from the 32- 
pounder and 64-pounder guns of the enemy's perma- 
nent fortifications, tore through the immense trees, 
hurling branches and splinters in all directions. It 
was very demoralizing, but fortunately the casualties 
were light. 

With night came a novel experience. The com- 
mand was ordered to extend to the right and reach 
the Ogeechee river, preparatory to a complete invest- 
ment of Savannah. The only route was a narrow 
causeway built up through tho rice swamp, parallel 
to, and within plain sight throughout its whole length, - 
of the enemy's heavy works, about eight hundred 
yards distant. The troops were massed in the heavy 
timber at the approaches to the causeway. As soon as 
darkness should well settle, they were to pass over 
and in a hurry. 

Fortunately the moon, which stood high and was 
near the full, was obscured by heavy clouds. The 
moment came, the word was given, and the head of 
column left its shelter, the troops marching in close 
order. They had made but a short distance, when 
suddenly, on the left, from down in the water, rose a 
shrill whistle, which was repeated again and again, 
until the sound was lost in the distance. It was a 



326 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



line of the enemy's picket-boats signaling the move- 
ment back to the forts. 

The response was prompt. The enemy's gunners 
had excellent range, and a storm of shot and shell 
flew across the water and over the causeway. The 
fierceness and suddenness of the attack accelerated 
the pace of the troops to such a degree that, in the 
darkness and confusion, many were pushed oyer into 
the water ; but in every such case, so far as heard 
from, the men who came to grief received their bap- 
tism on the side of the causeway farthest from the 
enemy's batteries — an unanswerable argument show- 
ing the natural instinct of men to recede from gun- 
powder rather than advance toward it. Fortunately, 
no lives were lost, but there were more guns and 
drums abandoned that night in the rice-swamp than 
during all the previous six months from Atlanta thus 
far. 

Such experiences as these were the severest strain 
upon the nerves, and put discipline to a hard test. 
These troops would stand comparatively unconcerned 
amid a torrent of shot and shell, when so posted as to 
be able to fight back. But to take a severe fire, on 
unknown ground, in the darkness of night, without 
opportunity of defending themselves, was a very dif - 
ferent matter. 



SAVANNAH. 



327 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



SAVANNAH. 




ECEMBEE 10th, the in- 

vestment of Savannah 
was almost complete. 
■* The extreme right 
(Blair' s Seventeenth 
Corps) rested on the 
Ogeechee river, seventeen miles 
from the city. 
Near that point were standing huge 
live-oak trees, which antedated the memory 
and legends of "the oldest inhabitant." Their great 
branches, as large as the trunks of trees in our own 
latitude, spread so widely that a good-sized regiment 
might form a line of battle beneath them. From 
their boughs drooped graceful festoons of moss. Just 
beyond, flashed the billows of old ocean, its surf 
falling upon the ear distantly and hoarsely. 

Under the moonlight, the scene was yet more im- 



328 



MABCHINGr THROUGH GEORGIA. 



pressive. It might have been the picture so beauti- 
fully described by Longfellow : 

li The murmuring pines 
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, 
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic. 
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. 
Loud from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced neighboring ocean 
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest." 

For many days the troops had been reduced almost 
to starvation. The rations in the supply- trains were 
exhausted ; and, in compliance with orders from the 
authorities, the citizens had either removed or de- 
stroyed all provisions and forage along the line of 
march for a*week past. In this strait, the army, offi- 
cers and men alike, subsisted upon immature " goober- 
peas" (peanuts) dug out of the sand-hills, whose ster- 
ility yielded nothing better, and rice gathered from 
the swamps, beaten out and parched. Even this poor 
makeshift for food soon failed, as the -army massed 
close about Savannah ; and the hunger of the men was 
heightened by recollections of the good living they had 
indulged in but a few days before, when in the region 
of sweet potatoes, pigs and beeves. The mules and 
horses were worse off — they either had no corn at all, 
or the little doled out was stolen from their troughs 
and nose-bags by hungry soldiers. 

At this period of general suffering, the adjutant's 
faithful "Bummer" succeeded in acquiring a few 
sweet potatoes, a small piece of fat pork, a solitary 



SAVANNAH. 329 

onion, and something in a canteen. Just as this tempt- 
ing repast had been spread out upon an empty hard- 
tack box, and the writer and a mess-mate were seating 
themselves for " a square meal," Frank Orcott, of the 
7th Illinois, one of the best fellows living, appeared in 
sight. He was mounted on an under-sized mule, with 
a dear-mother-XVe-come-home-to-die expression in its 
eye ; and absence of flesh made its anatomy resemble a 
wind - wrecked " prairie - schooner." Frank himself 
seemed as if he had lost every friend in the world, and 
when hailed, he looked around with a glad surprise. 
He joyously accepted an invitation to dinner, and 
although the two have eaten many a sumptuous meal 
at each other's tables since, tliey have never met upon 
such occasions without adopting, unanimously and 
enthusiastically, resolutions setting forth that their 
best dinner was eaten on the banks of the O^eechee 
river, that December day. more than twenty years ago. 
It is such an episode as this that makes the heart of 
the old soldier throb, and the water dim his vision, 
when he hears those beautiful lines of the soldier-poet, 
Miles O'Reilly : 

" There are bonds of all sorts in this world of ours, 
Fetters of friendship, and ties of flowers, 

And true-lovers' knots, I ween. 
The boy and the girl are bound by a kiss, 
But there's never a bond in the world like this, 
We have drunk from the same canteen. 

" It was sometimes water and sometimes milk 
And sometimes applejack, fine as silk ; 
But whatever the tipple has been, 



330 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



We shared it together, in bane and in bliss, 
And I warm to you, friend, when I think of this, 
We have drunk from the same canteen." 

December 13th, General Hazen's brigade of the 
Fifteenth Corps, made its magnificent assault upon 
Fort McAllister, which blocked the Ogeechee. Un- 
mindful of the great belching guns of this formidable 
fortress, the rattling volleys of musketry, the entang- 
ling abattis and chevaux-de-frise, the interlacing wires 
which snared their footsteps, the exploding torpedoes — ■ 
this gallant band rushed on, and in a few moments the 
national flag flying over the ramparts told the story 
that the great river was again open. Then the supply 
boats, which had been gathering below to succor the 
famishing army, pushed their way up, and were 
received with tremendous enthusiasm ; while soldiers 
and sailors, who had never seen each other before, 
grasped hands as if they were own brothers. Now 
supplies were distributed in lavish profusion, and col- 
lapsed stomachs assumed aldermanic proportions. 
Here, too, heavy mails were received, and "the boys" 
made happy by the receipt of letters from home, in 
answer to those written from Atlanta two months 
before. 

But there were letters which found no owners. One 
came addressed to a comrade who was particularly dear 
to the writer of these pages. He was a soft-cheeked, 
girlish-looking lad from the interior of Ohio. He had 
a romance — who of the boys had not ? — and this had 



SAVANNAH. 



331 



been confided to his friend. But the poor fellow fell 
in a skirmish a few days before reaching Savannah, 
and it was the sad duty of his companion to return the 
letter to an anxious maiden at home, and with it give 
the sad tidings of the loved one's death. God pity the 
mothers, wives and sweethearts whose heavy eyelids 
were held up by dreadful anxiety through those weary 
months when no tidings came, and hallow in their 
hearts the memory of those who died. 

The Union lines were now in constant action, push- 
ing steadily forward against Savannah. Several heavy 
guns from the fleet were put in position, and when all 
was in readiness for bombardment, General Sherman 
made a demand for the surrender of the city, enclos- 
ing a copy of the bloodthirsty demand of General 
Hood at Eesaca (similar to that of General French at 
Allatoona), and said : " Should I be forced to assault, 
I shall feel justified in resorting to the harshest meas- 
ures, and shall make little effort to restrain my army, 
burning to avenge the national wrong which they 
attach to Savannah and other large cities which have 
been so prominent in dragging our country into civil 
war." The demand was refused, and siege operations 
were prosecuted vigorously. 

On the night of December 20th, the Seventeenth 
Corps was well up in front of the enemy's works, Gen- 
eral Belknap's brigade succeeding in advancing within 
three hundred yards of the fortifications immediately 



332 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



outside the city, making its approach, under a severe 
fire of musketry and heavy artillery. Next morning 
the skirmish line was farther advanced, when the 
works were found to be deserted, the enemy having 
retreated across the Savannah river, into South Car- 
olina. 

The writer immediately rode into the city and 
down to the river front. Two miles below lay a couple 
of dark hulks which a citizen near by said were a ram 
and iron-clad gunboats belono-ino- to the " Confederate 
navy" — the soldiers supposed them to be national 
vessels. The Union flag was soon flying from a dozen 
prominent buildings, and the rebel vessels defiantly 
fired a few ineffective shots toward the city. A bat- 
tery of heavy Parrott guns was brought to the river 
front, and returned the fire for a short time, but with 
as little effect. A few minutes later, a blaze of flame 
leaped from the portholes of the vessels, and there w r as 
an irruption as of a volcano, followed by a dull, muffled 
roar. The enemy had blown up his " navy." 

General Sherman, a day or two afterward, wrote to 
President Lincoln : "I beg to present you, as a 
Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred 
and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, and also 
about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton." He fur- 
ther said, in his official report : " I estimate the dam- 
age to Georgia at a hundred millions of dollars, at 
least twenty millions of which has inured to our ad- 



SAVANNAH. 



333 



vantage, and the remainder is simply waste and 
destruction. This may seem a hard species of war- 
fare, but it brings the sad realities of war home to 
those who have been directly or indirectly instrumental 
in involving us in its attendant calamities. 
As to the rank and file of my army, they seem so full 
of confidence in themselves that I doubt if they want a 
compliment from me ; but I must do them the justice 
to say that, whether called oh to fight, to march, to 
wade streams, to make roads, clear out obstructions, 
build bridges, make 'corduroy,' or tear up railroads, 
they have done it with alacrity and a degree of cheer- 
fulness unsurpassed. A little loose in foraging, they 
'did some things they ought not to have done,' yet, on 
the whole, they have supplied the wants of the army 
with as little violence as could be expected." 

President Lincoln, in reply, said : " Many thanks 
for your' Christmas gift. When you were about leav- 
ing Atlanta for the coast, I was anxious, if not fearful. 
Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is all 
yours." General Grant wrote : " I congratulate you 
and the brave officers and men under your command on 
the successful termination of your most brilliant cam- 
paign. I never had a doubt of the result. When 
apprehensions for your safety were expressed by the 
President, I assured him that, with the army you had, 
and with you in command of it, there was no danger 
but you would reach salt water in some place." And 



334 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



General Halleck said : " Your march will stand out 
prominently as the great one of this great war." 

Some days after entering Savannah, the troops were 
overjoyed to learn of the glorious victory won at Nash- 
ville, under General Thomas, by their former comrades. 
The Army of the Tennessee had particular reason to 
be proud of their own Sixteenth Corps, which bore so 
gallant a part in the action, under the leadership of 
General A. J. Smith, that General Thomas telegraphed 
to the President : " General Smith, with McMillen's 
brigade of Mc Arthur's division, charged and cap- 
tured the salient point of the enemy's line, with 
over a thousand prisoners." This was the turning- 
point in the Battle of Nashville. Half an hour later, 
the shattered remnants of Hood's army were in full 
retreat 



"alas, poob yorick!" 



337 



XXXIV. 



"ALAS. POOR YOPvICK!" 




.CpVT Savannah, the troops 
lived at high-pres- 
sure, and their 
short stay was a 
continual round of 
merry-making. If 
the few male inhab- 
itants remaining, 
were somewhat for- 
mal and distant, 
ample amend was 
made by the ladies, 
who were generally cordial; and each little knot of 
soldiers made acquaintance with fair ones, glad to 
entertain and be entertained with cards, dance, and 
song. The poor Confederate soldier, fleeing before 
the Nemesis pursuing, might well say, in the words 
attributed to him near Memphis, two years pre- 
vious, by a Union soldier who parodied " Maryland, my 
Maryland : " 

22 



fete 




----- r-Jr^ ^.4^^ 



338 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



M The Yankee's foot is on thy shore, 

Tennessee, my Tennessee ! 
They riot run thy country o'er, 

Tennessee, my Tennessee ! 
How can our hearts be light and gay, 
When Yankee hands hold here their sway, 
And Southern girls their 'nests obey, 

Tennessee, my Tennessee ! 

" They steal and eat thy pork and beef, 

Tennessee, my Tennessee ! 
For cotton, too, thou'rt come to grief, 

Tennessee, my Tennessee ! 
Thy daughters fair, they're courting strong, 
With dance and marriage, card and song, 
\Yoe is the day ! for all goes wrong, 

In Tennessee, my Tennessee ! 

Thou mak'st them all so light and gay, 

Tennessee, my Tennessee ! 
With liquor good to wet their clay, 

Tennessee my Tennessee ! 
With the true spirit of the vine, 
The brightest of thy native wine, 
Blackberry juice and muscadine, 

Tennessee, my Tennessee ! " 

Among these people of SaYaimali was one who be- 
came particularly clear to the writer of these pages, 
and a number of his companions, many of whom will 
learn of his tragic death with deep sorrow. 

In casting about for a sheltering roof, in the ab- 
sence of a tent, a young officer happened to note a 
small cosy cottage standing somewhat back from the 
street, in the outskirts of the city. The door stood 
open and he entered. The parlor was just what he 
wanted, and his field desk was speedily set up in one 



"ALAS, POOR yorick!" 339 

corner and liis pair of blankets and valise deposited on 
the floor. A well-filled book-case stood at one side, 
and in this he was delighted to find his favorite 
author, rare Bobbie Burns, nature's own poet. With 
the book in his hand, and a good cigar between his lips 
(it was taken from an adjoining side-table), he was 
the picture of contentment, when a middle-aged lady 
entered the room. " Ah, sir!" said she, "you 
Northern gentlemen do not wait for invitations when 
you are away from home ! " This in a tone which 
was a refined sneer. 

"Beg pardon, madam," was the response, as the 
cigar was laid aside, " I did not find anyone at home, 
and the door stood open. AVe are without tents, and 
must seek shelter, and I promise to disturb you as lit- 
tle as possible. Any room in the house will be ac- 
ceptable, and I will adapt myself to your convenience 
as much as possible. Perhaps your having an officer 
of the Union army as a lodger may insure you against 
other intrusions. I have taken the liberty to examine 
your book-case, and with your permission would be 
glad to make use of it during my stay." 

Glancing at the volume in the hand of her unbid- 
den guest, the lady said, " Ah ! Burns ! Is he a favor- 
ite of yours ? " 

"Yes, indeed, madam; for I have heard his songs 
sung in his own land." 

" Indeed ! Are you Scotch ? " 



340 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



" I can not say as to that, madam. I was born at 
Berwick-upon-Tweed, but there seems to be a doubt 
as to whether the old town is English or Scotch. At 
one time it was called a free city, and one of the Brit- 
ish sovereigns wrote himself King of England, Scot- 
land and Berwick." 

Thereupon followed a conversation in which it was 
made known that the lady was a Scotchwoman, and 
had known her guest's father (then deceased) beyond 
seas. A most cordial feeling at once arose between 
the two conversationalists, and a lasting friendship was 
established. 

Somewhat later in the day, the lady's husband 
reached home, and to him was introduced the young 
officer, with an explanation of the friendly ties exist- 
ing between him and the wife. He was most cordial 
from the moment. Even without such an introduction, 
he was disposed to a spirit of gentlemanly toleration, 
based upon the idea, as he expressed it, that "to the 
victors belong the spoils but the kindly interest of 
his wife led him to the utmost cordiality of word and 
act, and the two became fast friends. He had under- 
stood that the army came through very light ; would 
his guest accept such needed furnishings, as his ward- 
robe would supply ? and accept such a loan of money 
as would be acceptable until he could supply himself 
through the customary channels ? 

Mr. Warren was then about forty years of age, a 



"ALAS, POOR yorick!" 341 

bank officer, and a large landholder ; but the disasters 
of war, and the exorbitant exactions of the Confederate 
authorities, had left him but little of his previously 
ample fortune. He was a misanthrope, a cynic ; but 
whether his melancholy had other cause than financial 
disaster, the writer never learned. Yet he was capa- 
ble of warm attachments, as this acquaintance amply 
testified ; and his regard, when once won, was far 
deeper than that common to men who are on familiar 
terms with everybody. Of studious habits and con- 
siderable culture, he had surrounded himself with all 
that could seemingly make life enjoyable. His pic- 
tures were exquisite, and his books the choicest. He 
was a writer of no mean ability, and many gems of 
true poesy fell from his pen and found their way into 
the columns of leading Southern journals. 

The time came for the young officer to leave Savan- 
nah with his command, and the regret of parting was 
mutual. An irregular correspondence was maintained 
between Warren and his former guest until about ten 
years ago, when the latter was surprised to receive 
from Warren a letter written from St. Louis, but a 
few miles from his own home, requesting a meeting in 
that city. The summons was answered in person by 
the next train, and Warren was found with his wife 
at a private boarding house. He said that he had 
broken up his home at Savannah, but gave no 
reason, and came to St. Louis hoping to find employ- 



342 



MARCHING 



THROUGH 



GEORGIA. 



ment. The friend to whom he appealed for assistance 
being then on his way East on an urgent errand, 
left with him money to supply his immediate necessi- 
ties, promising to aid him as he wished upon return- 
ing. A few days later, he learned from the newspapers 
that Warren had found his death by the deadly 
morphine, and that the widow had returned to her 
Southern home with his lifeless remains. The pub- 
lished account said that his taking off was " accident- 
a!." Let us believe that it was, nor grudge him his rest. 

As the writer pens this narrative, the portrait of 
Warren lies before him, recalling to mind the lines 
penned by the poor fellow at the field-desk of the 
former in Savannah, on New Year's Day, of 1865 — 
alas, how sadly suggestive, when read in connection 
with the circumstances of his unhappy death I 

One day, one day, 

Oh, troubled breast, 
Thou 'It be at rest 1 

If love's disdain 

Of thee makes mirth 

Six feet of earth 
Will end his reign. 
Rended his chain, 

Oh, troubled breast, 

Thou 'It be at rest. 

The life uncrowned, 

The true love crossed, 

The peace here lost, 
Will there be found ! 
Beneath the ground, 

Oh, troubled breast, 

Thou 'It b^ at rest ! 



THE SOLDIER ON HIS SEA - LEGS 



343 



CHAPTER XXXV, 



THE SOLDIER ON HIS SEA-LEGS. 



HE capture of Sa- 
vannah was the 
close of the ac- 
tual " March to 
the Sea." But, 
as was remarked in 
an earlier chapter, so close- 
ly did the Campaign of the Car- 
olinas follow upon that of Georgia, 
and so intimately blended were the 
consequences of these historic movements, that the 
" Great March" maybe said to have actually begun 
at Chattanooga, ending only upon the arrival of the 
army at Baleigh, North Carolina, where Johnston 
surrendered to Sherman. 

It had been decided that Sherman's army should 
be transferred to South Carolina, to operate against 
Lee's communications. The itinerary of this cam- 
paign shows that it occupied upwards of three months, 




MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



and involved a march of four hnndred and eighty 
miles to Goidsboro, North Carolina. To this was sup- 
plemented the march to Washington City, via Raleigh, 
three hundred and sixty miles farther, making eight 
hundred and forty miles in all. The figures look com- 
monplace, but it was a great undertaking. The roads 
were continuously bad, the army had never traveled 
worse , and the weather, with but slight exception, was 
horrible beyond description, rain falling almost inces- 
santly. 

A portion of the army made its movement from 
Savannah by land, crossing the Savannah river, and 
traversing the low ground lying near the coast-line ; 
while another part was transported by water to Hilton 
Head. It is difficult to say which of the two had the 
worst end of the bargain — the one, floundering for 
days and days in bottomless mud, or the other, 
churned and thumped about in rickety vessels on salt 
water. As it was, both agreed that they had never 
* before experienced such misery. 

On the morning of January 6th, Smith's division 
of Blair's corps marched from Savannah to Thunder- 
bolt Inlet, on Wassau Sound, eight miles, under a 
beating rain. There the troops embarked, the regi- 
ment which the narrative principally follows, taking 
passage on the "Winona." a wooden gun -boat the 
troops first made acquaintance with on the Mississippi 
river, at Yicksburg and Natchez, in 1362-3, when it 



THE SOLDIEK ON HIS SEA - LEGS. 



345 



belonged to Farra gut's squadron. It was a light 
draft propeller, carrying several heavy guns, all on the 
spar-deck. Of course there were no accommodations 
below except for the ordinary ship's crew, and the 
soldiers were disposed on deck, " out of doors," as they 
expressed it, as best could be. Soon after noon the 
vessel got under way, and it was not long before the 
trouble began. There was an unusually heavy sea, 
and what with that, and the heavy deckload of gnns, 
anchors, and the like, the crazy old "Winona" 
pitched about at a terrible rate. Most of the men 
were dreadfully seasick ; and, without strength to 
hold on to anything, they tumbled from one side of 
the vessel to the other, with its every motion, being so 
thumped and pounded that many of them were sore 
with bruises for days afterward. The scene was 
distressing enough, but had its comicalities. In the 
working of the ship, the officer of the deck frequently 
called out the "steady" which served as a direction 
to the man at the wheel, who echoed the "steady" as 
he plied the spokes of his helm. The untutored sons 
of the prairie, ignorant of the meaning of the words, 
took them to be sarcastic injunctions addressed to 
themselves, to stand up straight while the decks were 
wobbling forty-five degrees port and starboard in as 
many seconds; and they replied with elaborate pro- 
fanity between the gulps which signalized the commo- 
tion beneath their waistbands. 



346 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, 



Some time after dark, Hilton Head was reached, 
and anchor cast, but the vessel continued to roll 
wildly all night, making sleep impossible to the sore 
and weary landsmen. In the morning the " Winona " 
steamed into Beaufort, and the men disembarked, 
thanking God that they had escaped from an experi- 
ence compared with which plain soldiering was 
heavenly happiness. 

Beaufort was a beautiful little town, extremely 
southernish in every respect. The houses, all of 
wood, were low, covering considerable ground, and 
encompassed on all sides with spacious verandahs. 
The fortifications were garrisoned by Foster's corps, 
all negroes, well clothed, well armed, and in a high 
state of discipline. Large numbers of freedmen were 
in the vicinity, cultivating abandoned plantations. 

In the harbor lay ships, displaying the flags of 
almost all nations, and among them, flying the Ameri- 
can stars and stripes, were several captured blockade 
runners — Clyde-built, long, narrow, dull-colored ves- 
sels, lying very low in the water — evidences of 
" British neutrality." 

January 10th, the troops marched out of Beaufort, 
and after making five miles, ran against the enemy. 
He was driven without much difficulty, however, and, 
after penetrating the country fifteen miles, the 
command halted at Pocotaligo, near the Charleston 
and Savannah railroad, to await the arrival of that 



THE SOLDIER ON HIS SEA - LEGS. 



347 



portion of the army which was marching overland, 
or, to be more exact, wading through water, from 
Savannah. Pocotaligo- was an inlet, navigable by 
light-draft vessels at high tide, and the works aban- 
doned by the enemy were very complete. 

There, a few days later, large numbers of recruits 
and drafted men were received for various regiments. 
Many were substitutes, furnished by drafted men, 
receiving bounties ranging from eight hundred to 
two thousand dollars each. The arrival of the latter 
class occasioned much feeling anions the old soldiers, 
who had been paid only the four hundred dollars 
government bounty allowed for re-enlistment as vet- 
erans, and had been cut off from all local bounties. 

These recruits were also the cause of other compli- 
cations. The regiments to which thev were assigned 
had been depleted, by the casualties of service, below 
their minimum strength, and these accessions were 
not sufficiently numerous to bring them up to the 
standard to admit of the muster-in of subalterns who 
held commissions. As there were not enough of 
these recruits to fill up all the companies, it was 
plain that some must secure the necessary number, 
while others could not. So far as memory goes, the 
officers whose duty it was to make the apportionment, 
very properly filled up the companies having the 
most worthy and capable subalterns to be advanced. 



34:8 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Every regiment had its "bob-tail" companies, and 
from these came cries of partiality and favoritism. 

Until January 29th, the troops lay in fathomless 
mud, drenched daily with the worst rains they had ever 
experienced. The enemy was immediately in front, 
and the skirmish-line was engaged day and night. 
On the 30th, the troops broke camp and set out in 
earnest for the interior of South Carolina. The 
enemy contested every foot of ground, but fortunately 
the sun again shone out, the roads dried up some- 
what, and the spirits of the men rose, so that, on the 
whole, favorable progress was made. 



OLD FRIENDS HEARD FROM. 



349 



CHAPTEE XXXYI. 



OLD FRIENDS HEARD FROM. 




OTTTITHSTANDING 

the discomforts of the 
voyage from Savan 



nah to Beaufort, the 
whose 



regiment 



movements have 
been noted, had 
cause to remember 
with gratitude the officers and men of the " Winona," 
who made every effort to mitigate, as much as pos- 
sible, its unpleasantness. Hence, in recognition of 
kind treatment, the adjutant, on behalf of his comrades 
and himself, addressed the officers of the ship a letter 
of grateful acknowledgment. The last mail received 
at Pocotaligo previous to the army taking up its 
march for the interior, brought the following reply : 



350 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



U. S. S. Winona, 
Port Royal, S. C, Feb. 3d, 1S65, 

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 9th ult., enclosing- a card of thanks 
to the officers of this vessel, has been received. In reply we would say, 
that we feel gratified to know that our endeavors to make your recent 
trip from Savannah to Beaufort an endurable one were successful. Our 
vessel not being adapted to the service in which we were then engaged, 
and our accommodations limited, it was not in our power to offer you 
such quarters as we would have wished, nor such as you deserved. But 
the knowledge that our efforts were appreciated is very agreeable, and 
we are happy to have the acquaintance of a portion of that army whose 
glorious progress we have watched with such interest, while we have 
been comparatively inactive. Be assured that we shall watch your future 
steps with renewed interest; and may we be permitted to hope that the 
"big guns" of the navy may have a voice in some of your future con- 
quests. But however that may be, the officers of the " Winona," and 
yourself and comrades, Will have no dispute as to precedence; on the 
contrary, our toast at all times shall be " The Army and Navy forever," 
while war lasts and in happier times of peace. 

Please accept for yourself and your comrades the kind regards and 
good wishes of the officers of this vessel and believe me, very truly, 

E. H. Sheffield. 
Acting Master and Exec. Officer. 

The same mail also brought the following personal 
letter, which is quoted to show what friendly relations 
frequently sprang up between Union soldiers and 
Southerners. It was written by Z. X. Warren, an 
ardent supporter of the " confederacy," whose sad 
history and unhappy death have been narrated in a 
preceding chapter : 

Savannah, Ga., Jan. 19th, 1865. 

My Dear : * * My wife and self are truly rejoiced to 

learn that vour vessel escaped "the perils of the sea." We were both 
very anxious on your account, knowing that you had encountered unusu- 
ally boisterous weather. We sincerely desire that you may escape all 
perils of land and sea, and long live to be an ornament of society, and a 
useful and honored member of the republic. We greatly miss the com- 



OLD FRIENDS HEARD FROM. 



351 



pany of yourself and Capt. . Give him our kindest regards, 

* * My health is very poorly indeed; I am suffering greatly 
to-day, but try not to despair. * * 

Believe me, very truly, your friend, 

Z. N. Warren. 

In the same package with this letter is one penned 
by a lady residing on a plantation on Black river, in 
the rear of Yicksburg. It was just after the end of 
the siege that the fortunes of war made a Union 
soldier for a time an occupant of her house. She was 
a widow, with two daughters, one of whom was 
receiving her education in an Episcopal seminary in 
New Jersey, and had barely reached home before the 
Mississippi was closed to travel at the outbreak of the 
war. Three sons were with the rebel army in Vir- 
ginia. Nothing had been heard of them for months, 
and the anxiety of the poor women was pitiable. All 
the plantation hands had abandoned the place, and the 
family was utterly destitute, but refined and proud. 
In this strait it was the privilege of the Union soldier 
to relieve their immediate necessities during his stay. 
They were profuse in their expressions of, gratitude, 
and, soon after the close of the war, wrote of their 
efforts to re-establish their broken fortunes, and the 
sad news that two of the three boys had fallen on 
Eastern battle-fields. 

Friendships formed under such circumstances were 
not uncommon, and were sometimes marked by inci- 
dents as romantic as ever penned by novelist. 



352 MARCHING THEOUGH GEORGIA. 

Memory recurs at the moment to that same planta- 
tion not far from Vicksburg, and to bright-eyed 
Mollie, the dear creature, bitter little rebel that she 
was. How she delighted to throw open her windows, 
so that the soldiers about might hear her play 
" Stonewall Jackson's Way," and how loudly and 
exultantly her voice would ring out in " The Bonnie 
Blue Flag," and " Dixie!" 

Being not less a woman, however, she did not 
repel the delicate attentions of a young Union sol- 
dier; and the two spent many happy hours over the 
chess - board and at the piano. The girl was not 
greatly to be blamed for so amusing herself. Her 
lover was with Lee, in Virginia, and there were no 
mails to bring tidings from him. But her companion, 
being in constant communication with a fair girl at 
home in Illinois, was less excusable. The young 
rascal probably never made confession to her of the 
pleasant flirtation. 

One afternoon Mollie wished to go outside the 
lines to visit friends. The young soldier proposed to 
escort her, and his company being gladly accepted, 
they rode out on horseback. 

At the picket-line, the soldier gave the counter- 
sign, and was cautioned to be careful that the rebel 
cavalry did not capture him. But he was so engrossed 
with his fair companion that he gavQ little heed to the 
advice. 



OLD FRIENDS HEARD FROM. 



353 



Their destination, Wo miles beyond, was soon 
readied. The horses were hitched at the fence, and 
Mollie and the soldier entered the house, where both 
were cordially received. 

An hour later Mollie was loitering with one of her 
friends near the gate, when suddenly she looked up 
the road and shouted excitedly to her escort, "O! 
here are our soldiers coming! n 

The soldier was not a moment in reaching his 
horse. A hurried glance revealed a cloud of dust, 
and in the wrong direction for friends. He thought 
himself drawn into a trap by the fair rebel, and he 
put his foot into the stirrup, determined to make a 
desperate ride for liberty. But before he could reach 
the saddle, Mollie was by his side. "Don't go with- 
out me!" she exclaimed. 

She never looked more bewitching than at that 
moment, and the soldier could not distrust the anxiety 
for his safety which stood revealed in her tear- 
dimmed eyes and quivering lips, To assist her to the 
saddle required but an instant, and, urging the 
horses to their utmost speed, the two flew down the 
road. They were none too soon — the enemy, a score 
or more in number, were but a few hundred yards 
behind. Faster and faster flew pursuers and pursued, 
the former gaining, until at a turn in the road, the 
soldier was delighted to meet the advance guard of a 
body of Union cavalry. A hurried explanation was 
23 



354 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



given; a moment later a company of gallant troopers 
clashed by, and a rattling volley from their carbines 
gave assurance that the pursuit was checked. 

The soldier and his fair companion soon passed 
through the picket lines in safety; and to this day he 
holds her in grateful remembrance for having saved 
him from capture, if not death. Doubtless, the only 
reason for his not being fired upon by the rebel 
cavalry was the fluttering of Mollie's riding-skirt at 
his side. 

A few weeks later, orders came for the troops to 
abandon the line of Black river, to engage in the 
attempt against Atlanta. The young soldier delayed 
his departure until the last of his comrades had gone 
and the enemy's cavalry was in sight, and then leaped 
into the saddle. At the bend in the road which was 
to shut out his view of the place where he had spent 
so many happy hours, he turned and waved his hand- 
kerchief in farewell. The signal was returned from 
an upper window, and Union soldier and Southern 
damsel had parted forever ! 



THROUGH FIRE AND WATER. 



355 



CHAPTEE XXXVII. 



THROUGH FIRE AND WATER. 




FTEB four days of 

1111^ ^ V 1 ^ mix ^ marc ^ n g and 
sharp skirmishing, 

)) the army reached 
the Salkehatcliie, a 
considerable stream, 
which, outside i ts 
banks, broadened into an immense swamp. All 
the bridges having been destroyed, the enemy had 
plainly made up his mind that this route was im- 
practicable beyond question, and so it would have 
been to troops led by a less determined chief than 
Sherman. B.ut his restless energy and indomitable 
resolution were reflected in his men, rendering them 
superior to all circumstances, no matter how disad- 
vantageous, and their triumph at the Salkehatcliie, 
although comparatively bloodless, was one of the most 
conspicuous in their all-conquering career. To Giles 



356 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



A. Smith's and Mower s divisions of the Seventeenth 
Corps fell the severest labor and the greatest credit. 

The swamp at the point chosen for forcing was 
perhaps three miles wide. It was such as Moore 
described : 

"Tangled juniper, beds of reeds, 
And many a fen where the serpent feeds, 
And man never trod before." 

A dog could scarcely make his way through the 
swamp, much less a horse; and the mounted officers 
abandoned their animals for the time to travel in the 
same way as the soldiers in the ranks. 

At the command, the troops plunge into the timber. 
So immense are the trees, and so thickly set, that 
the eye can not reach half pistol range; and they 
are so abundantly covered with foliage that the light 
of day is shut out. No matter for this, however. The 
sun has not been seen to-day and a cold drizzling 
rain is falling. The progress of the men is slow 
and laborious. They force their way through the 
dense undergrowth, tearing their clothing, and scratch- 
ing face and limbs. Treacherous vines trip them, and 
they catch at bush and tree to save their footing. 
Cypress-knees concealed beneath the water wound 
their feet at almost every step. Now the water grows 
deeper and deeper, as the heart of the swamp is ap- 
proached. It comes up to the waist, and the men take 
off their cartridge-boxes and suspend them from the 



THROUGH FIRE AND WATER. 



357 



muzzles of their guns, above their heads, for they 
must keep their ammunition dry, no matter what else 
befalls. The water becomes deeper yet. Those who 
have watches, diaries or money, place these valuables 
within their hats. Now the water reaches to the arm- 
pits, and occasionally all that can be seen of a short 
man is his head sticking out of the water. Here and 
there are soldiers sitting upon fallen trees or stumps, 
exhausted or taken with cramps. The surgeon seeks 
them out, and, satisfying himself that their distress is 
not simulated, he directs the hospital steward to serve 
to the sufferer a "tot" of whisky from the hospital 
liquor-cask, which at such times, he carries strapped 
upon his shoulders. The administration of the stimu- 
lant tells how complete is the exhaustion of the 
patient. A half-pint of the fiery liquid is swallowed 
without affecting brain or limb. The human mercury 
is almost at zero, and the large dose only avails to 
restore the system to an approximation of its normal 
condition. 

This incident was only unusual in degree. Indeed, 
there Avere days and days when the soldier was 
drenched on account of rains or swamp-wading, and 
found no opportunity to dry himself save as the sun 
shone for a few hours, and dried his clothing on his 
body ; or when he shivered over the camp-fire at night, 
alternately turning front and rear of his person to 
the blaze. These were the exposures which wrecked 



358 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



health in countless instances, yet left no mark. Here 
it was that the soldier must do and endure, for he 
would not die. He drew on his reserve energy, and 
to-day he suffers with diseases and weaknesses which 
cause him to feel an age, and a degree of infirmity, 
that face and voice and gait fail to reveal. Thou- 
sands suffer who are unable to locate the date or exact 
circumstances which have caused nature to claim her 
own, in after years visiting a severe penalty for the 
violation of her laws ; and of such the pension list is 
necessarily silent. There are those of whom the writ- 
er knows, whose remarkable experience it was to fight 
and march the war through, from Cairo to Washington ; 
who gave to the cause nearly five years of their life, 
and how many of their vigor can not be told; who 
passed through many actions without a wound; and 
whose pride and resolution would not admit of their 
going to a hospital. They had their aches and pains, 
but they braved them out. It would be better to-day 
if, in war-times, they had experienced worse fortune 
or shown less pluck. A wound then — always pre- 
mising that it was not too severe — or a brief sojourn 
in a hospital, would, in all probability, have afforded 
nature a breathing-spell, and left them physically 
better men. 

But to return to the passage of the Salkehatchie. 
After a journey of more than three hours, the troops 
emerged from the swamp and put foot on solid ground. 



THROUGH FIRE AND WATER. 



859 



The movement was eminently successful, the enemy 
abandoning his works which had been thus turned. 

From the 4th to the 12th, the enemy gave ground 
rapidly until he reached the Edisto river, behind 
which lay the little city of Orangeburg. The condi- 
tions there were nearly identical with those of the 
Salkehatchie. 

The road leading into the city was a narrow cause- 
way made of corduroy, straight as an arrow, built 
through the swamp. At the farther end were stout 
fortifications mounted with heavy guns. It was a 
veritable Death's bowling alley. Down its two-mile 
length the enemy could pitch his cannon-balls at any 
human tenpins that might be set up. The distance to 
be traveled to reach the battery was so great that the 
direct attack would have involved terrible loss of life. 
This route being out of the question, Giles A. Smith's 
division was designated to force a passage of the 
swamp below the works, and near them, while Mower's 
division made an effort still farther down the stream. 

As soon as the head of Smith's column appeared at 
the foot of the causeway, the enemy commenced a 
warm cannonading. The troops were massed in the 
shelter of the heavy timber at the side of. the road, 
and out of view of the enemy, and when all was 
ready they rushed helter-skelter to the same kind 
of shelter on the other side. Then they deployed 
and waded through the swamp, in the same manner 



360 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



as at the Salkehatchie, until they came to the Eclisto 
proper, which was exceedingly deep and narrow, and 
ran with a rapid current. This was bridged by felling 
large trees, and over these the men scrambled to the 
farther side, the enemy giving way before a sharp mus- 
ketry fire. The first regiment across, on this part of 
the line, was the 32d Illinois, led by Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel Eider. The second in command was Major Smith 
Townshend, a gallant officer and most genial and com- 
panionable comrade. He had been a private in the 
1st Kansas, at Wilson's Creek, where Lyon fell. There 
he was wounded, and on recovering was commissioned 
as a lieutenant in this regiment, rising through the 
various grades to that of major. After the war he 
became a clerk in the War Department, studied medi- 
cine in his leisure hours, and in a few years entered 
upon practice in Washington City. Afterward he was 
appointed Health Officer of the District of Columbia, 
a position he yet fills. He was the first physician to 
reach the side of President Garfield after Guiteau's 
murderous assault, and administered the first treat- 
merit. 

Returning to Orangeburg : As soon as the troops 
emerged from the timber into the opan ground, tli3 
enemy, finding his works turned, abandoned them pre- 
cipitately. The skirmish line was less than a quarter- 
mile from the railroad when the last train ran out, 
loaded with frightened passengers. A number of 



THROUGH FIRE AND WATER. 



361 



shots were discharged at it, but without effect, so far 
as was ever heard. 

"When the troops entered the city, they found the 
business portion of it in flames, the effect of the 
enemy's suicidal folly in setting fire to large quanti- 
ties of cotton piled in the streets. W. Gilmore Simms, 
the famous Southern author, had his home at this 
place. Whether his premises were destroyed or not, 
the author does not know; but many books from his 
library, bearing his autograph, found their way into 
camp, and were carried away by the men as me- 
mentoes. 

The pursuit of the enemy continued during the 
13th and 14th, the federal advance constantly skir- 
mishing with his rear guard. The march on these two 
days was particularly uncomfortable, and at times dan- 
gerous. The route lay along a narrow country road, 
through an immense pine forest. The trees had been 
tapped for turpentine, and the resin coated them 
thickly where they had been denuded of their bark, 
ten to twenty feet upward. A fire was started, perhaps 
accidentally, perhaps intentionally, by the enemy, and 
the entire forest was ablaze. The thick, resinous smoke 
rose in dense clouds, blinding the sight and choking 
the lungs, while the fierce heat blistered faces and 
scorched clothing. The horses of the wa^on and 
ammunition trains and artillery were so frightened 
that it was a difficult task to coax or force them 



362 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



through the roaring flames, which raged on either 
side. Frequently a burning tree fell across the road, 
halting the column until it could be cut up and the 
pieces dragged away. The sticky, pitchy, black vapors 
soon changed the complexions of the men, and an Illi- 
nois mother might have come into camp and, taking 
her own son for a pure-blooded negro, have inquired 
of him the whereabouts of the white troops. Worse 
yet, no soap was to be had, and it was many a long 
day before the men regained their normal hue of 
countenance. 



CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 



365 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 




SI 



EBEUAET 
loth, the Seven- 
teenth Corps made 
a march of four- 
r~ teen miles, and the 
next day twelve, halt- 
ing on the west bank of 
the Congaree river, just 
below the confluence of 
Saluda and Broad rivers. 
On the opposite side, 
on ground gently slop- 
ing to the river, lay Col- 
umbia, its wide streets, wealth of ornamental trees, 
and handsome buildings, making a picture charming 
to the eye. The imposing walls of the new capitol, 
yet unfinished, rose in massive beauty ; the white 
marble of column and cornice — each stone was said 
to have cost a round thousand dollars — glittering in 



the sunlight like immense gems. 



Near this magnifi- 



366 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



cent edifice stood its less conspicuous neighbor, the 
old capitol, dingy and forbidding. 

Until the 6th it was not known to the troops that 
the column would reach Columbia at all, the direction 
appearing to be toward Augusta. But on that date, 
when Midway was passed, it was discerned that 
Columbia lay in the line of march, and the fact was 
regarded by the army with peculiar interest. All 
recognized that city as being of a verity " the hot-bed 
of the Rebellion," the birthplace of nullification, out 
of which came secession as a legitimate fruit ; and 
they looked upon its occupation as a triumph even 
more significant than the capture of Richmond itself. 

The 32d Illinois Regiment led the advance that 
day. As this command reached the edge of the 
almost perpendicular bank overlooking the river, the 
adjutant turned out to allow the column to change its 
direction" and form a color-line parallel with the 
stream. He was mounted on a fine horse, well nigh 
milk white, which his faithful " bummer " had 
acquired some days before, A water-mill on the 
opposite shore, and the bushes which fringed the 
river near it, proved to be full of the enemy's rifle- 
men, who found an unusually attractive mark in the 
white horse, and opened a sharp fire, which moved the 
troops, in filing past, to exhort the rider to send his 

" white horse to the rear." Without doubt he 

desired very much to comply with the requests so 



CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 



367 



earnestly expressed, but lie had a duty to perform, and 
honor required that he should not leave his post until 
it was completed. However, he " sighted" his color- 
line in much less time than usual, and sent the danger- 
inviting animal to the rear, but not before three men 
in his vicinity had been wounded by the fire which he 
had provoked. He never rode such an animal again ; 
the ordinary war-risk was hazardous enough, without 
offering any special inducements to the enemy. 

Attracted by the firing, a section of Clayton's First 
Minnesota Battery of Rodman guns was brought up, 
and a few shots knocked the water-wheel of the mill 
to pieces, and sent timbers flying so lively that the 
riflemen scampered away like rats from a burning 
barn. About the same time a battery of Parrott guns 
threw a few shells into the city, dispersing a crowd of 
people plundering the rebel commissariat. 

It was while these events were transpiring that 
General Sherman rode up, and, after examining the 
city through his glass, remarked to General Belknap, 
who commanded the brigade in line at this point, that 
he "would appreciate the men who first made a lodg- 
ment in Columbia." General Sherman then rode away, 
and General Belknap set his wits to work to take 
advantage of the hint his superior had dropped. 

That night, the Fifteenth Corps passed to the left 
of the Seventeenth, under orders to effect a crossing of 



368 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Broad river, three miles above, and to enter the city 
from the north. 

While this movement was in progress, General Bel- 
knap dispatched a party to make search for a boat, 
and Captain H. C. McArthur, of his staff, was so for- 
tunate as to find a leaky old scow. He had been a 
carpenter, and, assisted by several soldiers, by dint of 
iard work all night, succeeded in so repairing the 
craft as to make it tolerably seaworthy. 

About 9 o'clock on the morning of the 17th, the 
frail bark was successfully launched, and a party of 
thirty men, belonging to the 13th Iowa Regiment, vol- 
unteered to cross over. Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy 
was in command, and he was accompanied by Captain 
McArthur and Lieutenant Goodell, of General Bel- 
knap's staff. A number of natives who stood about in 
open-mouthed wonder, warned the men against the 
dangers of the rocky channel and swift current, and 
some of the soldiers declined to take the risk. Twenty- 
one, however, and the officers named, embarked and 
essayed the passage of the stream. It was a desper- 
ate undertaking; the current of the Congaree was 
very swift, and the channel was broken by dangerous 
rapids which would have deterred less determined 
spirits. But energy and courage were strong in these 
gallant men, and, after several narrow escapes from 
wreck on the rocks, they landed in safety on the 
Columbia side. Ascending the slope to the town on a 



CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 



869 



double-quick, at a distance of a couple of squares from 
the river, the party intercepted a rebel officer hurrying 
off in a buggy. The officers and the color -bearer took 
possession of the vehicle, and drove rapidly toward the 
capitol buildings, directing the squad to follow as fast 
as possible. When within a few hundred yards of 
their destination, the officers in the buggy were fired 
upon by the retreating rebel cavalry, but without 
effect. Seizing the only gun in the party, McArthur 
jumped out and fired at the enemy, unhorsing one of 
their number. Upon the arrival of the remainder 
of his men, Kennedy w T ent to the capitol buildings, 
and displayed the national flag from the old State 
house, and his regimental banner from the new one. 
From the dome of the old building could be seen the 
skirmishers of the Fifteenth Corps, nearly a mile 
away. 

About three-quarters of an hour later, Lieutenant- ♦ 
Colonel Kennedy and Captain McArthur were stand- 
ing in the rotunda of the old State house, when an 
officer with a first-lieutenant's strap upon his shoulder, 
and a flag in his hands, rushed in, and with an 
almost breathless voice asked, " Which is the way out 
to the dome ? " 

" What do you want ? " inquired McArthur. 

" I want to put this flag out ! " 

"Well," said McArthur, 66 you're just too late by 



370 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. * • 

three-quarters of an hour, and we've liad our flags on 
both buildings for that time ! " 
" Who in are you ? " 

"From General Belknap's brigade of the Seven- 
teenth Corps ! " 

The officer gave vent to an expressive but impolite 
ejaculation, and in response to a question addressed to 
him, said that he was from the 9th Iowa, of Colonel 
Stone's brigade, Fifteenth Corps. 

Shortly afterward, Kennedy's color-bearer reported 
that his national flag had been stolen from the dome. 
It was not recovered until the army reached Cheraw, 
when it was returned by a member of the 30th Iowa, 
Colonel Stone's brigade. 

Immediately after Lieutenant - Colonel Kennedy's 
party had crossed the river, a detachment of the 32d 
Illinois Regiment, also from General Belknap's bri- 
gade, made a crossing, and placed their colors upon 
the city hall. 

While there is no question of the first occupation 
of Columbia by General Belknap's troops (Third 
Brigade, Fourth Division, Seventeenth Corps), the 
truth of history demands the statement that the for- 
mal surrender of the city was made to the Fifteenth 
Corps. 

At dawn on the morning of that day, Colonel 
Stone's brigade of the Fifteenth Corps, threw pon- 
toons across the river above Columbia, working under 



CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 



371 



a heavy fire. Five companies of the 30tli Iowa Regi- 
ment, under command of Major Cramer, passed oyer, 
and as soon as a sufficient supporting force had 
crossed behind them, advanced and made a charge 
upon the enemy, capturing thirty prisoners, in the 
outskirts of the city. Major Cramer's command then 
moved forward on the main road leading to the city, 
and soon encountered a carriage bearing a white flag, 
driving towards them. Major Cramer rode forward 
and hailed the occupants, one of whom proved to be 
the mayor of Columbia, A surrender was demanded, 
which was promptly made. Colonel Stone, com- 
manding the brigade, afterward rode up, and to him 
the mayor made a more formal surrender. Colonel 
Stone and Major Cramer then took seats in the mayor's 
carriage, and in company with him drove into the city. 

The part taken by the 13th Iowa Regiment was 
suitably recognized by General Giles A. Smith, the 
division commander, who wrote the following letter, 
the original of which is before the writer of this 
narrative : 

Headquarters, 4th Division, 17th A. C, 
Near Columbia, S. C, Feb. 17, 1865. 

Brig. Gen. IV. IV. Belknap, Commanding 3rd Brigade : 

Sir: Allow me to congratulate you, and through you Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Kennedy, 13th Iowa Veteran Volunteers, and the men under his 
command, for first entering the city of Columbia on the morning of 
Friday, February 17th, and being the first to plant his colors on the 
capitol of South Carolina. 

While the army was laying pontoon bridges across Saluda and Broad 
rivers, three miles above the city, Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy, under 



372 



MAECHING THKOUGH GEORGIA. 



your direction, fitted up an old worn out flat-boat, capable of carrying 
about twenty men, and accompanied by Lieutenants H. C. McArthur 
and W. H. Goodell, of your staff, crossed the river in front of the city, 
and boldly advanced through its streets, sending back the boat, with 
another procured on the opposite side, for more troops, and on their 
arrival, with seventy-five men in all, drove a portion of Wheeler's cav- 
alry from the town, and at 11.30 a. m. planted his colors, one upon the 
old and the other upon the new capitoL 

The swift current of the Congaree River, and its rocky channel, 
rendered his crossing both difficult and dangerous ; and the presence of 
the enemy, but in what force unknown, rendered the undertaking still 
more hazardous. Lieutenant-Colonel Kennedy and his regiment are 
entitled to great credit for its successful accomplishment. 

Giles A. Smith, 
Bvt. Major-General Commanding. 

General Sherman, however, had forgotten his re- 
mark that he " would appreciate the men who first 
made a lodgment in Columbia." His report acknow- 
ledged the formal surrender of the city to Colonel 
Stone, and only incidentally stated, that " about the 
same time a small party of the Seventeenth Corps 
crossed the Congaree in a skiff and entered Columbia 
from a point immediately west." 

A pleasant incident marked the occupation of Co- 
lumbia. Among the prisoners there liberated was 
Lieutenant Byers, of the 5th Iowa Regiment, who 
while in prison wrote the following, one of the most 
stirring lyrics of the war : 

SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA. 

Our camp-fires shone bright on the mountain 

That frowned on the river below, 
As we stood by our guns in the morning, 

And eagerly watched for the foe ; 



CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA. 



373 



When a rider came out of the darkness 
That hung over mountain and tree, 

And shouted, " Boys, up and be ready ! 
For Sherman will march to the sea." 

Chorus. — Then sang we a song of our chieftain, 
That echoed o'er river and lea ; 
And the stars in our banner shone brighter 
When Sherman marched down to the sea. 

Then cheer upon cheer for bold Sherman 

Went up from each valley and glen, 
And the bugles re-echoed the music 

That came from the lips of the men. 
For we knew that the stars in o.ir banner 

More bright in their splendor would be, 
And that blessings from Northland would greet us, 

When Sherman marched down to the sea. 

Chorus. — Then sang we a song, etc. 

Then forward, boys ! forward to battle ! 

We marched on our wearisome way, 
And stormed the wild hills of Resaca — 

God bless those who fell on that day ! 
Then Kenesaw proud in its glory, 

Frowned down on the flag of the free ; 
But the East and the West bore our standard, 

And Sherman marched down to the sea. 

Chorus. — Then sang we a song, etc. 

Still onward we pressed, till our banners 

Swept out from Atlanta's grim walls 
And the blood of the patriot dampened 

The soil where the traitor flag falls ; 
But we paused not to weep for the fallen, 

Who slept by each river and tree, 
Yet we twined them a wreath of the laurel, 

As Sherman marched down to the sea. 

Chorus. — Then sang we a song, etc. 

Oh proud was our army that morning, 

That stood where the pine darkly towers, 



374 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



When Sherman said, " Boys, you are weary, 
But to-day fair Savannah is ours ! " 

Then sang we a song of our chieftain, 
That echoed o'er river and lea, 

And the stars in our banner shone brighter 
When Sherman camped down by the sea \ 



Chorus, — Then sang we a song, etc. 



DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 



375 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 




ANY accounts have been writ- 
ten about the destruction 
of Columbia, notably that 
from the pen of the dis- 
tinguished Southern author, 
[ William Gilmore Simms. This, 
in common with others, is 
founded upon information ac- 
quired at second - hand, and is 
wide of the truth in many im- 
portant particulars. The writer was 
with the earliest troops in the city; he saw the 
beginning and remained until the end. In certain 
particulars the narrative is not entirely creditable to 
some of the Union troops; but, at the same time, it 
will be shown that much undeserved blame has been 
bestowed upon them. 

As stated in a preceding chapter, Columbia was 
first occupied by a company from the 13th Iowa 



376 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Regiment of General Belknap's brigade, Seventeenth 
Corps. This detachment planted its flag upon the 
capitol buildings. 

Immediately upon that command reaching the 
Columbia side of the river, Adjutant Hedley, of the 
32d Illinois Regiment, who was in conversation with 
General Belknap at the moment, asked permission to 
take a company over. The request was readily 
granted, and the Adjutant sent an orderly for the 
color company of his own regiment. This com- 
mand, headed by Captain Tip Richardson, responded 
promptly, and double-quicked to the river. The 
men embarked in the rickety old scow which was 
used by the 13th Iowa detachment, and had been 
brought back by some negroes. To pole it across 
the stream was a task of great difficulty, and no 
little danger, the current being very swift, and broken 
into rapids which threatened every moment to wreck 
the craft upon the rocks. On reaching the Columbia 
shore the men scrambled out and set off up the slope 
toward the city at the top of their speed ; but they had 
not gone far when they were met by several negroes 
carrying buckets full of whisky, which they offered 
with great cordiality. The troops, however, had more 
pressing business on hand at the moment, and thrust- 
ing the hospitable blacks aside, started for the city 
hall at rapid pace. On reaching the building, the 
color-guard ascended to the tower and displayed its 



DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 



377 



colors. Meanwhile Adjutant Hedley and Captain 
Richardson halted in the mayor's office, on a lower 
floor, and entered into conversation with several citi- 
zens, one or more of whom represented themselves to 
be members of the city council. These gentlemen 
were in great distress, fearing that the city would be 
utterly destroyed, and called attention to a large quan- 
tity of baled cotton in flames in the main business 
street, near the city building; also, to the fact that 
some of the business houses were already being pil- 
laged. They said that the mayor had gone out to 
meet General Sherman and surrender the city, but they 
feared it would be too late to save it from destruc- 
tion. They were assured that a force adequate to 
preserve order and protect property, would soon enter, 
and were advised to hold their fire engines in readi- 
ness to fight the flames in case of necessity. The 
suggestion was acted upon, and an engine was run out 
upon the pavement from the engine-room on the first 
floor, in readiness for action. 

It is here to be noted that this detachment of the 
32d Illinois were the first federal soldiers in that part 
of the city, the company from the 13th Iowa having 
gone to the capitol building. When the former 
entered the place, as before stated, the cotton piles in 
the street were in flames, and negroes, in that part 
of the city, as well as some white citizens, asserted 
that Wade Hampton's rebel cavalry had fired them on 



378 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



retreating. There was at the same time some pil- 
laging going on, the depredations being committed by 
negroes belonging in the place, and white men in 
civilian's dress, or " butternut " jeans ; some of the 
latter were federal prisoners, confined in public build- 
ings, who had been released by the negroes while the 
enemy was vacating and the federals entering. As to 
the pillaging, it will be borne in mind that the 3 2d 
Illinois detachment was met at the river's edge by 
negroes carrying liquor by the bucket-full. These 
negroes, and after them some of the prisoners whom 
they had released, evidently began the depredations. 

While the officers named were yet in conversation 
with the citizens in the mayor's office, a soldier from 
the 13th Iowa Regiment, occupying the capitol build- 
ing, entered the room and said that the colors of his 
regiment had been stolen, presumably by troops 
who had more recently entered the city. Hedley 
and Richardson at once ascended to the tower to 
see whether they had suffered like misfortune, but 
fortunately their colors were still in place, and in 
custody of the color-guard. As a precaution against 
loss, and to ensure the presence of the color-guard, 
they fastened with a bolt, on the under side, the 
trap-door leading into the tower. Then, descending 
to the mayor's office, they noticed that the head of the 
Fifteenth Corps had stacked arms in front of the 
building and established a provost-guard. 



DELENDA EST CABTHAG0. 



379 



Shortly afterward an officer of the provost-guard 
made complaint of the men in the tower firing wildly 
up the street, and, upon investigation, it was found 
that some of the color-guard, finding themselves 
locked up in the manner described, and not relishing 
the idea of losing their share of the liquor that was 
being consumed upon the street, had cut the bell-rope 
and let it down upon the outside of the building, with 
the request that a jug of whisky be sent up. The 
liquor was accordingly supplied by some sympathetic 
comrades, and one of the soldiers became so excited 
by frequent potations that he evidently imagined him- 
self to be a beleaguered garrison resisting an attack. 
Fortunately, his aim was wild, and no one was injured 
by his reckless firing. The color-guard was at once 
relieved, and, with the remainder of the company, 
directed to rejoin the regiment. Before leaving the 
building the party took two flags from the mayor's 
office — one, the rebel " stars and bars," made of 
some coarse woolen stuff, now in the possession of 
Adjutant Heclley; the other, a handsome silk state 
flag. Captain Richardson tendered the latter to 
General Belknap, who directed him to keep it, which 
he does to this day. 

Up to the time of the arrival of the Fifteenth 
Corps and the establishing of a provost-guard, not a 
building had been fired, and reasonably good order 
prevailed, considering the circumstances. Very many 



380 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

men, some soldiers, but mostly negroes and escaped 
prisoners, were somewhat intoxicated, and did some 
pillaging, mainly in liquor houses and a military fur- 
nishing store. These depredations were soon stopped 
by the provost-guard. 

Shortly afterward, the jail building just in rear of 
the city hall was fired, but the flames were soon sup- 
pressed. This seems to have been the first fire alarm. 
Simms, the Southern historian, does not charge this 
deed upon the troops, but upon the escaped prisoners 
before mentioned. 

Somewhat later, General Sherman rode into the 
city. It was a sight for a painter, the smile which 
overspread his features as his eyes fell upon one of 
his "bummers," who was just crossing the street in 
front of his horse's head. The fellow was far gone in 
liquor, his gait being wonderfully irregular. He wore 
a handsome silk dressing-gown reaching nearly to his 
feet, and outside of it were buckled his accoutrements. 
He carried his musket at a loose " shoulder shift." 
In place of his military head-gear, he wore a shiny 
" plug " hat, tilted well back, and around his neck 
were strung a number of epaulettes, evidently part of 
the stock of some military furnishing store. A mo- 
ment after, he was in the clutches of the provost- 
guard. 

Somewhat later in the day, a jolly party met in the 
old senate chamber, where, thirty-three years before, 



DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 



381 



the legislature of South Carolina proclaimed its hos- 
tility to the federal union. A mock senate was organ- 
ized, and a vote of censure was passed against John C. 
Calhoun, the great nullificationist, whose states' rights 
doctrines had found their logical sequence in the 
existing wicked and unhappy rebellion. His marble 
bust, a conspicuous ornament of the hall, was made the 
target for inkstands and spittoons. The secession 
ordinance was repealed, " John Brown" was then 
sung with great enthusiasm, and the "senate" ad- 
journed to re-assemble at Ealeigh, North Carolina. 

The magnificent government arsenal was a place of 
great interest. On the grounds, mounted upon pedes- 
tals, were several fifteen-inch shells, trophies of the 
war, presented to the state by General Beauregard. 
One bore the inscription: " This shell was thrown into 
Fort Sumter by the Abolition Fleet." Another, " This 
shell was fired into Charleston by the Abolition Bat- 
teries." The use of the word "abolition" bespeaks 
the venom of the traitor who presented the relics, and 
his determination to recognise in no manner whatever 
the government he so bitterly hated. In the arsenal 
grounds were also some famous old pieces of artillery, 
several being revolutionaiy war relics bearing the 
legend, " Georgius Bex, 1770," surrendered by Corn- 
wallis at Yorktown. Also a fine Blakeley gun, made 
in England, bearing a brass plate with an inscription 
to the effect that the piece was "Presented to the 



382 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Sovereign State of South Carolina by one of her sons 
residing abroad." This fine specimen of ordnance is 
now in the gun-yard at the Bock Island Arsenal. 
Inside the Arsenal buildings were many new Enfield 
rifles from English workshops, evidences of that 
British " neutrality " of which so much was heard in 
those days. On leaving the building, the writer 
brought away with him as mementoes a pair of ele- 
gant spurs, which he yet retains ; and a set of "Har- 
dee's Tactics, Compiled for the Use of the Confederate 
States Army." They were in three volumes, and 
were printed on paper not much lighter in hue or 
finer in texture than ordinary brown wrapping paper. 
This valuable relic he had the great pleasure of pre- 
senting in person to General Robert Anderson, the 
hero of Fort Sumter, some months later. A portrait 
of the General, and an autograph acknowledgment of 
the gift, were given in return, and are among the most 
highly prized of the owner's war relics. 

The visit to the capitol and arsenal occupied the 
afternoon almost until evening, and up to the late 
hour of departure from the latter building, reasonably 
good order prevailed in the city. There was some 
drunkenness, and at times a little pillaging, but the 
provost-guards managed to keep down any general 
tumult, and prevented destruction of property. 

Towards dusk the writer was one of a number of 
soldiers who repaired to the principal hotel, the name 



MLENDA EST CARTHAGO. 



885 



of which is forgotten, and called for supper. Some 
federal officers were already seated when the party 
entered the dining room. The servants were intoler- 
ably slow, and "when, after much delay, they brought 
in the meal, it was found to consist of fried side-meat, 
corn-bread and rye "coffee." Before this food was 
dispatched, the alarm of fire was raised, and it was 
discovered that the hotel was in flames. The proprie- 
tor, servants and guests, departed hastily, neither 
waiting to render nor pay a bill. How this fire 
originated has never been stated. 

Many of the business houses on Main Street were 
now in flames, and the fire was spreading rapidly. 
There had been a high wind for a couple of hours, and 
it was now blowing a hurricane, carrying to all direc- 
tions flakes of burning cotton from the huge piles of 
blazing bales in the street. As soon as possible, large 
details of troops engaged in an attempt to stay the 
tide of destruction, making almost superhuman efforts, 
but their task was a hopeless one. They might as well 
have attempted to stop a fire in a powder magazine. 
The very elements had conspired for the destruction 
of the city; and human means were futile. The fire 
apparatus was old and worn out. One rickety engine 
had been wrecked, and the hose chopped to pieces by 
drunken negroes and escaped prisoners. 

The street was soon a seething mass of flame on 
both sides, and from end to end. Then the real work 
25 



MAHCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



of pillage began. Some, wild with drink, and others, 
sober enough, who conceived that property abandoned 
by its owners to destruction was flotsam and jetsam, 
belonging to whomsoever might have courage to res- 
cue it, entered the burning buildings and took what 
suited their fancy. 

The attempt to save the city was abandoned, and 
the soldier-firemen and the provost-guards exerted 
themselves to the saving of human life. There were 
many so intoxicated as to be in danger from the fall- 
ing walls, and in some instances it was necessary to 
carry them out of harm's way. Notwithstanding all 
this effort, some lives were lost. 

Meanwhile, there were those who were applying 
the torch elsewhere in the city. A half-block of frame 
shanties of the most disreputable character were fired 
in malicious mischief. A similar fate befell the fine 
residence of Wade Hampton, who commanded the 
lately retreated rebel cavalry; also that of Mr. Tren- 
holm, the rebel Secretary of the Treasury, and of 
other high dignitaries. The incendiaries in these 
cases evidently regarded the destruction as justifiable 
and praiseworthy. 

It is beyond question that in some instances pri- 
vate premises were plundered and individuals robbed. 
The writer, however, has this only on hearsay ; he 
witnessed no such disgraceful scenes. There were 
some ghouls in this army, as in all others, no matter 



DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 



387 



how civilized the age, or righteous the cause ; and a 
very few such in the midst of thousands of honest and 
conscientious soldiers, could readily bring reproach 
upon all. But the author does not know r , nor, after 
diligent inquiry, has he been able to find any soldier 
who was in Columbia at that time, who knows of any 
such vandalism as was attributed to Sherman's army 
by William Gilmore Simms, in his pamphlet, " The 
Burning of Columbia," published in 1865. He says : 

4 4 Ladies were hustled from their chambers — their 
ornaments plucked from their persons, their bundles 
from their hands. It was in vain that the mother ap- 
pealed for the garments of her children. They were 
torn from her grasp and hurled into the flames. The 
young girl striving to save a single frock, had it rent 
to fibres in her grasp. Men and women, bearing off 
their trunks, were seized, despoiled ; in a moment the 
trunk burst asunder with the stroke of the ax or gun 
butt, the contents laid bare, rifled of all the objects of 
desire. 

" ' Tour watch ! ' 1 Your money ! 5 was the demand. 
Frequently no demand was made. Rarely was a word 
spoken, where the watch, or chain, or ring, or bracelet, 
presented itself conspicuously to the eye. It was 
incontinently plucked away from the neck, breast, or 
bosom. Hundreds of women, still greater numbers of 
old men, w r ere thus despoiled. The slightest show of 
resistance provoked violence to the person. 

" The venerable Alfred Huger was thus robbed, in 
the chamber and presence of his family, and in the 



388 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



eye of an almost dying wife. He offered resistance, 
was collared and dispossessed by violence. 

"We are told that the venerable ex-Senator Colonel 
Arthur P. Hayne was treated even more roughly. 

" Within the dwellings, tne scenes were of a more 
harsh and tragical character, rarely softened by any 
ludicrous aspects. It was' in vain that the woman 
offered her keys, or proceeded to open drawer or ward- 
robe, or cabinet or trunk. It was dashed to pieces 
with ax or gun butt, with the cry, ' We have a shorter 
way than that ! 5 

" Nor were these acts those of common soldiers. 
Commissioned officers, of rank so high as that of colo- 
nel, were frequently among the most active in spolia- 
tion, and not always the most tender or considerate in 
the manner and acting of their crimes; and, after 
glutting themselves with spoil, would often utter the 
foulest speeches, coupled with oaths as condiment, 
dealing in what they assumed, besides, to be bitter 
sarcasms upon the cause and country." 

These are some of the passionate assertions of a 
bitter partisan, who was not within fifty miles of 
Columbia at the time of its destruction, and whose 
information is wholly second-hand, and unsupported 
by evidence. But even William Gilmore Simms chal- 
lenges his own assertions when he says : " The west- 
ern troops, including those from Illinois, Iowa and 
Indiana, were frequently faithful and respectful. 



DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 



389 



"and many of the houses which escaped sack 
and fire, owed their safety to these men." 

Who, then, did all the diabolical mischief spoken 
of by Simms ? The " western troops," of whom he 
makes mention as beinof in Columbia that dreadful 
night, outnumbered all others ten to one, and the pro- 
vost-cmard was an Iowa brigade. 

The moral responsibility for the destruction of 
Columbia, and for the personal suffering which fell 
upon its people, rests upon the confederate authorities 
themselves. With criminal recklessness they fired 
immense stacks of cotton in their principal business 
streets. It was criminal because it was pure waste, 
being only destruction of property of which the fed- 
erals could make no use, and if fired, could only jeop- 
ardize the buildings of people in sympathy with their 
cause. The fearful winds which spread the flames in 
every direction, and wiped out the principal part of the 
city, that is, the main business street and those adjoin- 
ing on either side, were not an invention of the hated 
Yankee. The comparatively few fires elsewhere in the 
city, kindled by incendiaries, besides nearly all the 
pillaging, were perpetrated by negroes and released 
prisoners, the latter acting as if in bitter revenge for 
the hardships they had undergone while in the hands 
of the enemy. For these excesses the confederate 
authorities were mainly responsible. All might have 
been readily prevented, or at least restrained, by the 



390 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



federal troops in custody of the city, had not the 
enemy's own recklessness produced conditions which 
no human power could control. 

When morning came it was found that three- 
fourths of the city had been destroyed. It was pitiful 
to see homeless families, grouped in the stunted pine 
groves adjacent to the city, surrounded by the few 
poor household goods they had managed to save from 
the flames. General Sherman left them a large quan- 
tity of provisions, taken from his wagon train at the 
expense of the troops, who were already on short 
rations in a sterile country, while many of the soldiers 
divided the contents of their haversacks with the poor 
people — a measure of liberality which historians of 
the Simms stripe never acknowledged. 

Columbia was more nearly identified with the 
immediate causes of the war than any other southern 
city, and her destruction was incomparably greater 
than that of any other. A Praise-God-Barebones of 
a couple of centuries ago would have ascribed her 
downfall to a judgment of God. As it was, there 
were those who, while they wielded no torch, and 
deplored the sad misfortune of those who suffered, 
looked upon her fate as well-deserved. 

It is gratifying to note that a fine monument, 
erected to the memory of the "Palmetto Regiment" 
which fought in the Mexican war, escaped destruction. 
This beautiful work of art was a palmetto tree of 



DELENDA EST CARTHAGO, 



391 



iron, so skillfully made that only the closest scrutiny 
revealed the fact that it was not a living tree. It was 
mounted upon a fine marble pedestal, in which was 
set a brass tablet bearing suitable inscriptions. 

Many years afterward, the "Burning of Columbia" 
was made subject of enquiry by the British and 
American Mixed Claims Commission, in the cases of 
claims for cotton burned, brought against the United 
States by British subjects. General Sherman's evi- 
dence was direct and emphatic, fixing the responsi- 
bility entirely upon the confederate authorities. He 
said, " Cotton was burning in the streets of Columbia 
at least twelve hours before any soldier belonging 
to my army had gotten within the limits of the town 
of Columbia. . . I saw it with my own eyes." 

An effort was made by the counsel for British 
claimants, to show that the Union army was guilty 
of unusual depredations. General Sherman's evi- 
dence is conclusive upon this point, and not devoid 
of humor : 

" Question — General, it is alleged that Von Moltke 
has said that your army was an armed mob ? 

Answer — Von Moltke was never fool enough to 
say that. I have seen Von Moltke in person ; I did 
not ask him the question, because I did not presume 
that he was such an ass as to say that. 

Question — You deny that statement, do you ? 

Answer — Our army was as good an army as the 
Prussians ever had ; and Von Moltke is a man of too 



392 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



good sense to have made any such statement as was 
attributed to him. . . . The Prussian army did 
learn many a lesson, and profited by them, from our 
war, and their officers were prompt to acknowledge it. 

Question — General, I have often heard your ene- 
mies in the South admit the perfect discipline of your 
army ? 

Answer — We could not have done what we did do, 
unless we had kept them under good discipline. 

Question — Can you tell me anything about the 
Fifteenth Corps? 

Answer — Yes, indeed, I can ; I know all about it ; 
they were as fine a body of men as ever trod shoe 
leather. 

Question — They had the reputation of doing their 
work well ? 

Answer — Yes sir; thoroughly. 

Question — Had they not a reputation in Missis- 
sippi for leaving their mark upon the country ? 

Answer — Yes, sir ; they left their marks wherever 
they went. 

Question — You were aware of this ? 

Answer — Perfectly. 

Question — They were a wild set, were they not ? 

Answer — No, sir; they were composed of first-rate 
men — farmers and mechanics, men who are to-day as 
good citizens as we have in our country, but who 
went to war in earnest ; they were mostly western 
men. 

Question — They were good men for destroying 
property ? 

Answer — Yes, sir; when told to do so, they de- 
stroyed it very quickly, 



DELENDA EST CARTHAGO. 



393 



Question — When not told to do so, if they thought 
they might do it, and it not be objectionable to their 
officers — 

Answer — They could do their work very thor- 
oughly when they undertook it. 

Question — Were they in the habit of destroying 
property ? 

Answer — No, sir; I do not think they were, more 
than was necessary ; they were a very kind set of men, 
and I have known them frequently to share their 
rations with citizens and people along the country ; I 
have often seen it done. 

Question — Do you mean to say that you were not 
aware that the Fifteenth Corps was a corps distin- 
guished for the marks they left upon the country 
through which they passed ? 

Answer — I may have known it, and very likely I 
did ; I generally knew what was going on. 

Question — I asked you, did you know it? Were 
you not aware that the Fifteenth Corps was remark- 
able for the manner in which they left their mark 
upon the country through which they passed ? 

Answer — Explain what you mean by £ mark.' 

Question — Devastation. 

Answer — They killed every rebel within range of 
their guns, and left their dead bodies to "mark the 
ground. 

• • • • • • 

Question — Do you not believe that individuals 
assisted in spreading the conflagration at Columbia? 

Answer — My own judgment was that the fire 
originated from the imprudent act of Wade Hampton 



394 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



in ripping open the bales of cotton, piling it in the 
streets, burning it, and then going away ; that God 
Almighty started wind sufficient to carry that cotton 
wherever He would, and in some way or other that 
burning cotton was the origin of the fire. 
Some soldiers, after the fire originated, may have 
been concerned in spreading it, but not concerned at 
all in starting it. . . . It would not surprise me if 
some vagabond did it without orders, and merely for 
deviltry. It would not surprise me if some of our 
escaped prisoners, or some of our own soldiers, aided 
in spreading the flames. ... I would not 
believe, upon the mere say so, or even the oath, of 
any person in Columbia that night, when he would 
state that he saw a fire kindled in a house, or in a 
shed, unless it were confirmed by some of my own 
people." 



NEAEING THE END. 



CHAPTEE XL. 



NEAEING THE END. 




7 v (/ T^^^^^fc^-^^^-c^ 

^^^^^^pjS^^'* was now 
f~:- pushing on in 
the direction 
T= M~ of Cheraw, South 
Carolina, and found 
^^&w. itself on the very 
trail of the contending armies of 
the Revolutionary War. This fact 
lent additional interest to the campaign, and, in 
camp or on the march, the troops eagerly pored 
over such maps as were available, and ransacked 
their brains for school-day recollections of stories 
of adventure and battle in the early days of the 
nation. Day after day they marched and skirmished 
upon ground made famous by contests between the 
British rough-riders under Tarleton, and the dashing 
partisans of the patriots Marion and Sumter. In 
these days of immense armies and thorough organiza- 
tion, such warriors would be known as " bushwhack- 



396 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



ers" and " bummers. 5 ' Orangeburg and Winnsboro 
lay on the route, and these places had been the head- 
quarters of Cornwallis at various times. The Fif- 
teenth Corps found on its line of inarch the old town 
of Camden, near which Cornwallis defeated Gates. 
This was the most disastrous reverse the Americans 
suffered during the Revolutionary War. Here they 
lost eighteen hundred men. with all their artillery; 
and here. too. Baron DeKalb fell. The battle was 
once regarded as a stupendous struggle, but Sher- 
man's army boasted a record which justified it in 
regarding that as nothing more than a respectable 
skirmish. It had fought a score of such, many far 
more serious, during the march between Chattanooga 
and Atlanta. 

Somewhat later, a portion of the Army of the 
Tennessee fought a skirmish near the old revolution- 
ary battlefield of the Cowpens; but notes at hand 
neither note the precise locality nor the date. 

Leaving the vicinity of Columbia on February 
19th. the army reached Winnsboro on the 21st, and 
there learned that Charleston had been abandoned by 
the enemy after withstanding siege for nearly four 
years. The operations of Sherman's army having 
severed their communications with the headquarters 
and interior of "the Confederacy," led them to be- 
lieve that city to be the objective point of the cam- 
paign. 



NEARIXG THE END. 



397 



This recalls the incident that, when in the vicinity 
of Branchville, well in the rear of Charleston, some 
days previous, Sergeant Barker, of the 32d Illinois, 
found among some papers which had been sent out 
from the city by the enemy, presumably for safe keep- 
ing, a requisition dating somewhere back in the '40's, 
calling for thirteen loaves of bread for the garrison at 
Fort Moultrie, and signed, " T\ T . T. Sherman, 1st 
Lieut. 3d Artillery," The dingy little piece of paper 
was regarded as quite a curiosity, in view of the 
changed condition of the officer whose name was ap- 
pended. 

March 3d found the army at Cheraw, South 
Carolina, on the Great Pedee river. The distance 
traveled during the eleven days' march was some- 
thing more than one hundred and twenty-five miles, 
over inconceivably bad roads. As soon as they had 
emerged from the mud of the swamps, the troops 
found themselves anchored in the stiff clay hills, 
which the heavy rains had worked into the proper 
consistency to hold feet and wagon wheels as if they 
had grown there. The labor of building roads and 
pulling wagons and guns out of the quagmires was 
very severe. To add to the discomfort, this region 
was almost barren, and little provision or forage was 
to be found, making it necessary for the troops to sub- 
sist upon the greatly abbreviated rations issued from 



398 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the supply trains. Three days' rations of meat and 
bread had to suffice for ten days. 

At Cheraw large quantities of commissary stores 
were found, and issued to the troops or loaded into 
the wagon trains. They also secured several thousand 
stand of small arms, and about twenty-five pieces of 
heavy artillery. The former were destroyed, the lat- 
ter were utilized in a novel way the next day. 

March 4th was made a day of jubilee. The last 
news received from the outer world was that of the re- 
election of President Lincoln; and this was the day 
upon which he was to be inaugurated. The event was 
celebrated in as grand form as the surroundings would 
permit. At noon, when it was supposed the ceremo- 
nies were transpiring at Washington, a national salute 
was fired from the captured artillery, large sea-coast 
pieces. In order to make as much noise as possible, 
and at the same time destroy the guns, which could 
not be carried away, they were charged to the burst- 
ing point, and when the salute was ended, the work of 
destruction was found to be complete. In the mean- 
time, the lusty lungs of thousands of wildly exultant 
men added to the din. 

March 9th, General Kilpatrick figured in a comical 
scene which afforded amusement for the army for 
many days. This dashing rough-rider, commanding a 
division of cavalry, with a battery of light guns, 
always moved on the exposed flank of the army, and 



NEARING THE END. 



399 



could be depended upon to attack or resist almost any 
force, apparently regardless of consequences. So 
restless was lie, so continually in motion, that lie went 
by the name of " Kill-Cavalry." He was of medium 
height, but compactly built ; his face, adorned with 
side-whiskers, expressed at once affability and great 
determination. A peculiarity of his dress was a solid 
silver star worn upon the shoulder in lieu of the 
brigadier's strap prescribed by the regulations. 

Late at night Wade Hampton's rebel cavalry made 
an unexpected attack upon Kilpatrick's camp, dis- 
persing the command and surrounding a house occu- 
pied by the General and one of his brigade com- 
manders, Colonel Spencer, afterward a senator from 
Alabama. These officers, in anything else but uni- 
form, managed to run the gauntlet and reach the 
woods near by. Here they rallied their troopers, and 
after a brisk fight drove away Hampton, regaining 
their camp and artillery. 

March 11th, a beautiful day, the army was march- 
ing toward Fayetteville, North Carolina, at a rapid 
pace and in good spirits, Giles A. Smith's division of 
the Seventeenth Corps in advance. The adjutant, riding 
a u captured" horse whose high mettle was stimulated 
by a sudden blast from a brass band immediately be- 
hind, found himself unable to restrain the ambitious 
animal, and was borne past the head of the column 
toward a squad of soldiers exchanging shots with 



400 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the enemy on the opposite side of Cape Fear river. 
The Union skirmishers turned out to be " bummers," 
whose zeal for adventure had led them to outdo the 
regular advance. As soon as they discerned an officer 
galloping down the road — not knowing that he had no 
more business there than themselves, but was only 
present on account of the self-assertion of an unruly 
horse — they raised a shout, " There goes an officer! 
Let's follow him and save the bridge!" At once all 
dashed forward in the direction of the river, but the 
enemy had piled large quantities of resin upon the 
bridge, and it was already in flames and past saving 
when the squad reached it; besides, a rebel battery 
was playing across the river. This combination of 
circumstances, and the fact that his horse was winded 
by its mad run, caused the officer to halt, and, with 
the soldiers, seek cover until the arrival of the main 
column. The wild rider was warmly praised by his 
superior for courage displayed, but the compliment 
was coupled with a profane reflection upon his want of 
sense. 

Shortly after the troops entered Fayetteville, a 
United States dispatch boat ran up to the wharf — the 
first vessel flying Union colors that had ascended the 
stream since the war began — the brave little craft 
making the venture because of the abiding faith of the 
Government in Sherman's assurance that he would be 
there at that time. The boat was insignificant enough, 



NEAKING THE END. 



401 



scarcely larger than a yawl. It brought no letters, no 
papers — nothing but a bag of dispatches for the 
General. But for all that, it was hailed with un- 
bounded enthusiasm. It was the first courier from 
the outside world since the army left Beaufort, nearly 
two months before. It spoke no word ; but the bright, 
familiar bunting at its peak seemed to be a personal 
message to every member of the grand army, telling 
him the Government at Washington yet lived, and the 
great heart of the nation confided in his patriotism 
and courage. No wonder he hailed the flag with as 
warm delight as thrilled the heart of the patriot in 
days gone by, when, imprisoned within hearing of a 
deadly conflict, and after a night's weary vigil, he 
looked out across the waters from his cell, at the first 
gleam of dawn, and gave eloquent expression to his 

}°J : 

" On the shore, dimly seen thro* the mists of the deep, 
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes— 
What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep, 
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? 
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's firs* beam, 
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream, 
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! " 

At Fayetteville an expedition was organized to 
march down the banks of Cape Fear river to the sea 
coast, with a cloud of negroes and white refugees who 
had attached themselves to the army as it moved 
along. The plantations on the line of march had gen- 
26 



402 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



erally been abandoned by their owners, and when the 
slaves concluded to follow the army north in search of 
" white wheat bread and a dollar a day," they con- 
sidered themselves licensed to appropriate whatever of 
massa's or missis's finery they could lay hands on. 
The white refugees and freedmen traveled together 
in the column, and made a comical procession. They 
had the worst possible horses and mules, and every 
kind of vehicle, while their costuming was some- 
thing beyond description. Here was a cumbersome, 
old-fashioned family carriage, very dilapidated, yet 
bearing traces of gilt and filagree, suggesting that it 
had been a very stylish affair fifty years before. On 
the driver's seat was perched an aged patriarch in 
coarse plantation breeches, with a sky-blue, brass-but- 
toned coat, very much out of repair, and his gray griz- 
zled wool topped off with an old-fashioned silk hat. 
By his side rode mater-familias, wearing a scoop- 
shovel bonnet resplendent with faded ribbons and 
flowers of every color of the rainbow; a silk or satin 
dress of gre^t antiquity, and coarse brogans on her 
feet. The top of the carriage was loaded with a 
feather-bed, two or three skillets, and other " plun- 
der." From the glassless windows of the clumsy 
vehicle peered half a score of pickaninnies of all sizes, 
their eyes big with wonder. Elsewhere in the column 
a pair of "coons" rode in a light spring wagon, one 
urging the decrepit horse to keep up with the proces- 



NEABING THE END. 



405 



sion, while the other picked a banjo, and made serious 
attempts to sing a plantation song, which was almost 
invariably of a semi-religious character. Those who 
traveled on foot, men and women, of all colors from 
light mulatto to coal black, loaded down with bedding, 
clothing and provisions, were legion. Occasionally a 
wagon was occupied by white refugees, who, being 
unionists, had been despoiled by the confederates. 
These were sad and hopeless. The colored people, on 
the contrary, were invariably gay hearted, regarding 
their exodus as a pleasure trip, and evidently strong in 
the faith that their lot, on "gittin' to freedom," was to 
be one of bliss. 

The fine government arsenal at Fayetteville, which 
had been used by the confederates, was completely 
destroyed, General Sherman remarking that he did 
not believe the Government would ever be so foolish 
again as to entrust such property to a rebel state. 

March 14th, the army moved in the direction of 
Goldsboro, the march becoming slower on account of 
the concentration of the enemy's forces in front. 
Johnston, who was displaced by Hood before Atlanta, 
had been again called to oppose Sherman, with the 
relics of Hood's army, and the various garrisons made 
available by abandonment of the sea-coast line. The 
Union troops looked for a severe struggle ; some felt 
that there was a strong probability of having to fight 



406 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



a part of Lee's army as well as Hood's, but all were 
hopeful, believing that the end was drawing near. 

March 19th, the Twentieth Corps was caught in 
flank by the enemy, and had a sharp little engage- 
ment. Later reports indicating that it had found in its 
front the entire rebel army, with General Johnston at 
its head, the Seventeenth Corps was diverted from its 
course to go to its assistance, and made a hard night's 
march over a miserable causeway built through the 
swamp. Rain fell in torrents all night long ; the 
lightning was fearful, and one bolt struck a portion of 
the column, severely shocking several men. The Fif- 
teenth Corps had a scarcely less unpleasant journey, 
on the same errand, over a different road, and one 
possibly a trifle better — it could not have been worse. 

On the 21st, the army went into line of battle near 
Bentonville, North Carolina. Notwithstanding the 
evident hopelessness of their cause, the enemy fought 
desperately, and Sherman's army won fresh laurels in 
defeating them. 

Giles A. Smith's division of the Seventeenth Corps 
deployed a skirmish line made up, in part, of the 32d 
Illinois. This portion of the line was under orders to 
make a strong demonstration to create a diversion in 
favor of Mower's troops, who had gone into action 
farther to the right with so much energy as to be in 
danger of being overwhelmed. Unfortunately, the 
ground and the conditions were unknown, and Smith's 



NEARING THE END. 



407 



skirmishers, particularly those of Belknap's brigade, 
suffered severely. At the word, they advanced through 
a heavy pine forest, the line of battle being in near 
support, moving on until they encountered the 
enemy's works, and some of the men actually fell 
upon the parapet. One of these, a gallant young 
lieutenant of the 32d Illinois Eegiment, was left for 
dead. A few days afterward, he overtook the com- 
mand on the march, and was looked upon as a 
modern Lazarus. He was scarcely recognizable, for 
his uniform was horribly dilapidated, and he wore a 
large patch near his nose, and a bandage around his 
head, a rifle ball having passed through his cheek, 
making its exit behind the opposite ear. It is to be 
hoped that he is now enjoying good health and a 
liberal pension. 

In the charge, one poor fellow, a drafted man (for 
which class the veteran volunteers manifested a super- 
cilious contempt), bent over the ground as the line 
came well under fire. " You 'connie' (con- 

script), come on and fight!" yelled an officer. "Wait 
till I tie my shoe, and you'll see how a £ connie ' 
will fight ! " was the answer. He finished tying his 
shoe, for that is what he was really doing, regained 
his position, and fell dead on the enemy's works. 

The line was forced back from the works, but occu- 
pied its advanced rifle-pits. Early the next morning 
the enemy retreated, having been pressed hard at other 



408 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



points. He was never to fight another battle. But 
that was not known then. 

The part taken by a portion of his brigade was suit- 
ably recognized by General Belknap, in the following 
letter to Captain Jeff Dunn, who commanded the 
skirmish-line : 

Headquarters 3D Brig., 4.T11 Dtv., 17TH A. C, 

In the Field, March 22d, 1865. 

Captain : I take the first opportunity that offers to thank you for 
your gallant conduct on the skirmish-line near Eentonville, N. C, March 
2 1st, and to express the appreciation I have for the skillful manner in 
which you handled your men. Your line, weak as it was, at a moment's 
notice, not only charged the rifle-pits of the enemy, but advanced on his 
entrenched line-of-battle, and only fell back before greatly superior num- 
bers. At night, when relieved by the first brigade of this division, you 
remained with your men on the skirmish-line, and faithfully did more 
than your duty, although you could with perfect propriety have brought 
in all your men. I have the satisfaction of knowing that the men of 
Iowa, as well as those of Illinois, honor you for your conduct, and I will 
commend to those of my command your example as worthy of im- 
itation. 

I am, Captain, 

Yours, very respectfully, 

W. W. Belknap, Brig.-Gen. 

March 22d, the army entered Goldsboro, and was 
again in communication with the northern homes of 
the soldiers. Heavy mails, which had been accumu- 
lating for more than two months past, were await- 
ing them ; and, to make their happiness as nearly 
complete as a soldier's may be, they were served with 
unstinted army rations. 



A JOYOUS INTERLUDE. 



409 



CHAPTER XLL 



A JOYOUS INTERLUDE. 




IMMEDIATELY after the army had 
entered Goldsboro, the adjutant 
was an actor in a chapter of ex- 
periences, which, recalled to mind 
after the lapse of a score of years, 
might seem to have existence only 
in dreamland. But a package of 
military orders, a bundle of let- 
ters, and a few photographs, lying 
upon his desk, assure the reality 
of the narrative. 

Colonel Cadle, General Frank 
P. Blair's adjutant general, an 
old and well- known friend, gave hint to the adju- 
tant of some military events soon to occur. Sher- 
man was to crush Johnston, and then move upon 
Lee, whom Grant was holding as in a vise. Those in 



410 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



high place were so well assured of the successful issue 
of these operations, that the end of the war, and the 
transfer of General Sherman's army to the national 
capital, for final review and disbandment, were regarded 
as near at hand. General Blair was anxious that his 
command (the Seventeenth Corps) should make as 
presentable an appearance as possible, when that event 
should occur. The Fourth Division (General Giles 
A. Smith) was without a brass band ; but among the 
recruits received were several musicians, and one who 
represented himself as having been a band-leader. 
These men were to be organized as a band, and the 
adjutant was ordered to go to New York, taking the 
leader with him, to purchase instruments, the required 
funds having been contributed by the officers of the 
division. 

March 26th, the necessary orders were made, and 
the adjutant and his companion began their journey, 
traveling by rail to New Berne, thence by boat through 
the Dismal Swamp and canal to Fortress Monroe 
and Baltimore. From the latter place they proceeded 
by railway. 

The business in New York was speedily discharged, 
and the band-master sent back to his command with 
the instruments. To dismiss this part of the subject, 
once for all, it is only to be remarked that the "band" 
proved to be the very worst in the army, and the alleged 
" leader " a most stupendous fraud. It is perhaps 



A JOYOUS INTERLUDE. 



411 



to the credit of the latter, that he never murdered but 
one tune. It was the only one he ever attempted — 
" The Eoll of the Stirring Drum," from " The Bohe- 
mian Girl." 

The adjutant availed himself of a saving-clause in 
his orders, to remain in New York for a few days and 
enjoy a season of recreation. One evening, soon after 
his arrival, he stood in the lobby of the Metropolitan 
Hotel, in the midst of a large throng of army and navy 
officers, engaged in discussing war questions with con- 
siderable spirit. It was evident that all were East- 
ern men, for they magnified the achievements of the 
army in Virginia, and of the fleet on the sea-coast ; 
not forgetting to disparage somewhat their comrades 
of the West. This was natural enough, from their 
standpoint ; but it was exceedingly irritating to the 
adjutant, who finally spoke, with anger and indig- 
nation, in vindication of his own army. His hot sen- 
tences had scarcely passed his lips, when his hand was 
grasped by one in the uniform of a naval officer, who 
excitedly asked, "For God's sake, are you one of 
Sherman's men?" - 

Being answered in the affirmative, the stranger 
introduced himself as Acting Master Gibson, of the 
gunboat "Marmora," belonging to the Mississippi 
flotilla. He then pointed to his disfigured face— the 
cheek-bone had been crushed by a fragment of shell 



412 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



while passing the forts at New Orleans in one of Far- 
ragut's wooden vessels. 

The two, strangers alike to the throng about them, 
became close friends on the instant. The Eastern 
men, hearing their conversation, at once made the 
amende honorable, protesting they meant no dispar- 
agement of their comrades in arms, and were unaware 
that any of General Sherman's army had yet reached 
the North. They were very sincere and cordial, and 
proved to be most companionable gentlemen. 

Standing well back at the side of the lobby, noting 
the altercation and the explanations, but taking no 
part, was an elderly man, whose whitish hair crept 
out from beneath a fatigue cap. A military cloak 
concealed all evidence of rank. Approaching the 
adjutant, he said that he had heard the conversation, 
and was surprised that any of General Sherman's 
command should have reached the North so soon. 
Then he presented a card bearing his name, and 
requested the writer to become his guest. The 
speaker was General Anderson, who, as a humble 
major, held Fort Sumter against the first treasonable 
assault in April of 1861. His invitation, at once a 
high honor and a command, was promptly accepted. 
The General's carriage was at the door, and the two 
were soon at his residence on Fifth Avenue. It was 
now quite late, and the guest was at once shown to a 



A JOYOUS INTERLUDE. 



413 



room, with an injunction that he must be prepared to 
do a great deal of talking on the morrow. 

At breakfast next day the guest met Mrs. Ander- 
son and her children The latter conversed with each 
other and with their parents in French, the General 
explaining that it was to assist them in acquiring 
fluency in the language, which they were diligently 
studying. After breakfast, all repaired to the library, 
and the adjutant was desired to give a narrative of the 
campaigns of General Sherman's army, beginning 
with the march out of Atlanta. Never did speaker 
have more attentive auditors, and their deep interest 
put him so much at his ease that he told his story 
with considerable enthusiasm, the General frequently 
calling a halt to ask pertinent questions, or to com- 
ment, as the narrative progressed. The morning was 
thus spent, and the interview suspended for the time. 

In the morning of the next day the narrative was 
resumed and the subject tolerably well exhausted, 
when General Anderson complied with the solicita- 
tions of his guest, and gave a vivid description 
of the attack upon Fort Sumter and the occur- 
rences preceding it. He told how, with his little 
band of eighty men, he was virtually besieged in 
Fort Moultrie, Charleston harbor ; how, upon his 
own responsibility, and with the positive conviction 
that President Buchanan would disapprove his action, 
he abandoned the position by night and occupied 



414 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Fort Sumter, the key to the harbor; how at noon 
on the following day he assembled his command at 
the foot of the flagstaff, and all knelt, while the 
chaplain invoked a blessing upon the nation and 
their own feeble effort ; after which the General (a 
major then) with his own hands ran up to the head of 
the staff the flag he had brought away from Moultrie, 
while the band played "Hail Columbia," and the men 
broke into cheers. Then he told of the attack upon 
the relief -ship " Star of the West," and its driving 
off; of the summons to surrender the fort, of the 
fierce cannonading from the rebel batteries, and of 
how, with his wooden buildings in flames from the 
enemy's shells, his ammunition and provisions ex- 
hausted, he saluted his flag, hauled it down and 
evacuated the fort. 

General Anderson was now looking forward, with 
the ardent anticipation of a gallant soldier and noble 
patriot, to a scene which he regarded as a fitting close 
to his public life. The fortress he was compelled to 
surrender to the domestic enemies of the Government, 
had been conquered and recovered by the national 
forces, and it was to be his glorious privilege to again 
raise over the ramparts he had so well defended, the 
very flag he himself had been obliged to lower. He 
had but recently received from the War Department 
orders prescribing the ceremonies, and announcing 
April 14th, 1865, the fourth anniversary of the sur- 



A JOYOUS INTERLUDE. 



' 415 



render, as the date. General Anderson was to raise 
the flag precisely at noon, and it was to be saluted 
with one hundred guns from Fort Sumter, and with 
national salutes from every fort and battery which 
fired upon it in 1861. At a later day the newspaper 
accounts showed that these arrangements were fully 
carried out, and that an appropriate oration was 
delivered upon the spot by the Rev. Henry Ward 
Beecher. 

The author has often regretted that he failed to 
take notes of his conversations with General Anderson, 
while they were yet fresh in mind. As it is, only the 
salient points linger in memory. The General spoke 
with entire freedom, and took a pardonable pride in 
his military history. He told how he entered the 
army, and served on the staff of General Scott, and 
was wounded in Mexico. He expressed his great ad- 
miration for General Sherman, and his pride in the 
success of that officer, whom he referred to as " one of 
my boys," Sherman having been a lieutenant in his 
battery, on being commissioned, early in the 'iO's. He 
bade his guest call upon General Sherman on rejoin- 
ing the army, and convey to him his compliments and 
good wishes. Then the General asked for a souvenir 
of the great march, whereupon the writer, with out- 
ward pleasure but inward reluctance, presented him 
with three volumes of " Hardee's Tactics, Compiled 
for the Use of the Confederate States Army," which 



416 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



lie had taken from the arsenal at Columbia, South 
Carolina, having first, at the General's request, in- 
scribed upon a fly-leaf his name and a statement of 
the circumstances under which they came into his 
possession. In return, the General handed him a card 
photograph of himself, upon the back of which he 
wrote : 

To Lieut. Hedley, of Gen, Sherman's army, from an admirer and 
lover of his old comrade, Gen. W. T. Sherman, with the regards of 

Robert Anderson, 
Major General, U. S. A, 

On rejoining the army, the adjutant made good his 
promise to call upon General Sherman. He was 
received kindly, and the warm - hearted general 
expressed great pleasure at the incident, speaking in 
high terms of his old commander, and relating several 
anecdotes with reference to their early comradeship. 
At a later day he addressed to the writer a note, in 
which he said : 

The episode with reference to Gen. Anderson is certainly most 
interesting to me, who esteemed him so highly. I think these anecdotes 
of the period should be treasured, because time is passing rapidly, and 
with it the memories of the days which tried the courage and patriotism 
of our people. I hope you and all others of my old soldiers may live 
long and attain all the honor and prosperity to which they can aspire. 
Truly, your friend, 

W. T. Sherman, 

General. 

The morning before leaving New York, the adju- 
tant had occasion to visit Wall Street. He was stand- 
ing upon the topmost step of the sub-treasury build- 




39 



A JOYOUS INTERLUDE. 



419 



ing, when a bulletin was posted, announcing that Lee 
was asking terms of Grant. To this moment there 
was not more than the usual bustle on the street, but 
in less time than it can be told, the scene changed, and 
the thoroughfare was packed from end to end with a 
dense mass of wildly exultant people. It was the be- 
ginning of the end. The tidings had flown fast. No need 
now of telegram or printed sheet. Men saw the glori- 
ous news in each other's faces, and felt it in the grasp 
of the hand. Then, while the vast crowd cheered and 
cheered again, there went up to the very summit of 
old Trinity Church, at the head of the street, the tri- 
umphant flag of the nation, regal in a splendor it had 
never worn before; while underneath, from the cross 
high up in air, to the very ground, were flags and 
flags, nothing but flags, until the spire was a mass of 
bright bunting, bathed in the sunshine of God's own 
peace. Then, exhausted with their own joyous effort, 
a great hush came over the vast assemblage, and the 
voices of the birds were heard among the folds of the 
flag, as might Noah's dove among the olive-branches, 
where it found rest and peace. And then those glori- 
ous chimes rang out that old " Old Hundred," which 
has been Christendom's Te Deum through so many 
generations, and the vast concourse, with streaming 
eyes, and tremulous voices, took up the gladsome 
words, forever wedded to the music, "Praise God, 
from whom all blessings flow ! " 



420 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



There was no discord in tliat vast volume of thanks- 
giving. All differences as to how this end should 
have been reached, or by whom should have come 
deliverance, were forgotten, and there was no thought 
of aught but joy that strife had ceased, and that 
God's messenger of peace had indeed come to reign 
upon earth. 



A KNOT OF CEAPE. 



421 



CHAPTER XXJX 



A KNOT OF CRAPE, 




I ETUENING from New York to the 
front, a magnificent panorama 
presented itself to the eye at 
Fortress Monroe. Napoleon liad 
begun his designs upon Mexico; 
and, in view of possible compli- 
cations, every maritime power in 
Christendom had sent one 
or more war vessels into 
the spacious harbor, whence they might reach 

Mexican waters without much delay, if necessary. 
Here were the flags of all nations, and war-vessels 
of all types, but among them none looked so trim 
and ready for action, nor did any fly such beauti- 
ful colors, as our own. Here were the battle-scarred 
" Monitors," which for three years had lain under 
a ceaseless storm of iron hail from the batteries 
at Charleston ; and swift, heavily armed cruisers, 
battered by tempest while pursuing blockade-runners, 



422 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



and blockading rebel ports. Towering over all, rose 
the wall-like sides and lofty spars of a famous old 
three-decker sliip of the line, a surviving relic of the 
naval architecture of half a century ago, made obsolete 
by steam and iron, and three-hundred-pounder guns. 
In its wake, in curious contrast, somewhat resembling 
the little dog-cart of the circus clown following close 
upon the heels of the elephant, lazily floated one of 
the most diminutive stern-wheelers of the western 
river class. It looked strangely out of place on salt 
water, and w r as regarded with contemptuous curiosity 
by the genuine old tars of the salt-water navy, who 
persisted in calling it 6 'the wheelbarrow." 

At Norfolk, Virginia, it became necessary to leave 
the ocean-going steamer and take passage upon a lit- 
tle propeller which ran to New Berne, North Carolina. 
The craft was not more than forty feet long, and about 
ten feet wide, with only sufficient deck-room to shelter 
the machinery and the four men who made up 
officers and crew. The only passengers aboard were 
the writer and a civilian, Mr. Segar. An acquaint- 
ance was speedily formed, and Mr. Segar proved to be 
a most companionable old gentleman. He was a 
native of Virginia, and a man of considerable note. 
As a member of the convention assembled to vote Vir- 
ginia out of the Union in the early secession days, he 
took a leading part in the deliberations of that body, 
bitterly opposing its revolutionary and rebellious 



A KNOT Otf CRAPE. 



423 



* spirit, and voting against the ordinance of secession. 
He was loudly denounced by the mob, and at one 
time a rope was actually placed about his neck, and he 
would have dangled from a lamp-post had it not been 
for the intervention of prominent secessionists, who 
were his warm personal friends. Thereafter it was 
not safe for him to live within the rebel lines, and 
he was kept employed by the federal government in 
various confidential missions. 

The route through the Dismal Swamp lay along 
the edge of Drummond Lake, a wild and lonely region 
which recalled the tradition so well told in verse by 
Moore. It was night, and the moon was at its full, 
the light increasing, by contrast, the gloom of the 
lake, which was almost entirely concealed by the dense 
foliage fringing its banks. Here and there strag- 
gling moonbeams crept through, and their fitful glint 
upon the dark waters far away seemed as if it might 
be the fire-fly lamp of the phantom Indian maiden, 
and one almost expected to catch a glimpse of 

" The lover and maid so true, 

Seen at the hour of midnight damp, 
To cross the lake by a fire-fly lamp 
And paddle their white canoe." 

But more suggestive reminiscences clung to the 
lonely region. It had been made even more famous 
by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe in her powerful novel 
"Dred," vividly depicting the iniquities of slavery. 



424 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



The book, once widely and eagerly read, was a power 
in building up that sentiment under which the system 
finally sank, but it is almost unknown to the younger 
generations who have grown up in the past quarter 
of a century. 

Morehead City was reached April 15th, and there, 
on the day following, was received news of the glori- 
ous consummation of General Anderson's mission to 
Fort Sumter, of which he had advised the writer some 
days before. The joy of the troops there stationed, 
on receiving the news, was unbounded, but it was of 
short duration. The hurrahs had scarcely died out, 
when the intelligence came, on the evening of the 
same day of victory and gladness, almost before the 
echoes of the joyful guns at Sumter had ceased to 
roll, that Lincoln, the beloved and true-hearted, had 
fallen by the hand of the assassin. 

To those who were on the stage of action at that 
time, the recollection of the horrible crime comes as a 
dreadful nightmare. Those of a younger generation 
< can not possibly imagine the terrible sensations, the 
awful forebodings, it awoke. 

It is but a few years ago that the nation was over- 
whelmed with grief because of the murderous taking - 
off of the second martyr-President, Garfield. The two 
events are in no wise comparable. The latter crime 
was in days of profound peace ; the former was in time 
of fierce war. With Garfield dead, " the government 



A KNOT OF CRAPE. 



425 



at Washington still lived," and the smooth, continuous 
movement of the machinery of law and order was not 
to be interrupted. When Lincoln fell, the hosts of re- 
bellion were yet in arms, and men dreaded lest the assas- 
sin's bullet might consummate that crime against civili- 
zation which lines of battle had for years unsuccessfully 
struggled to accomplish. The overwhelming sorrow, 
and fear of possible evil to follow, fell upon the nation 
like a pall. It was so much, so unexpected, that men 
were stunned, stupefied. They wandered about in an 
aimless, irresolute way, with voiceless lips and blanched 
cheeks. The ordinary concerns of life, the routine 
duties which, through long continued habit, had come 
to be performed mechanically, were forgotten. Then, 
as the mind slowly grasped the horrible reality, stupor 
gave place to fierce rage and an intense desire to be 
revenged upon somebody — viybody. Women, fearful 
that all who bore the name of Southerner would be 
visited with destruction of property and perhaps of 
life, left their homes and came to the military head- 
quarters, bringing with them their children, and plead 
in tears that their lives might be spared. Their fears 
were idle, their prayers unnecessary. It is the highest 
tribute that can be paid to the self-control and mag- 
nanimity of the soldiers of the Union, that their rage 
was expended with their breath, and that neither bul- 
let nor torch was sent upon its deadly work. It is 
wonderful to record that no soldier committed a deed 



426 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



of excess — a single one might have drenched the land 
in innocent blood, and covered the name of American 
soldier with undying shame. 

The next day, April 17th, the adjutant arrived at 
Raleigh, to which point the army had advanced during 
his absence. The news of Lincoln's assassination had 
not yet reached the troops, and when he informed the 
members of his mess, they were incredulous, regarding 
it as one of the canards which were so numerous in 
those days. But later in the day, General Sherman 
gave authenticity to the sad story by the publication 
of an order in which, after reciting the circumstances, 
he said : 

" Thus it seems that our enemy, despairing of meet- 
ing us in open, manly warfare, begins to resort to the 
assassin's tools. 

"Your General does not wish you to infer that this 
is universal, for he knows that the great mass of the 
confederate army would scorn to sanction such acts, 
but he believes it the legitimate consequence of rebel- 
lion against rightful authority. 

" "We have met every phase which this war has 
assumed, and must now be prepared for it in its last 
and worst shape, that of assassins and guerrillas ; but 
woe unto the people who seek to expend their wild 
passions in such a manner, for there is but one dread 
result ! " 

Then occurred scenes more remarkable than those 
witnessed at Morehead City. 

Sherman's army was confronting that of Johnston. 



A KNOT OF CRAPE. 



427 



Both, were drawn up in line of battle, only a few hun- 
dred yards apart, but peace negotiations were in 
progress, and white flags along the lines proclaimed a 
truce. Many of the men forgot this state of affairs 
in their thirst for revenge ; and, here and there, 
squads and detachments grasped their arms, and with- 
out thought of orders, and unled by officers, moved to 
the front. A single gun might have opened a conflict 
involving the whole army, in which no quarter would 
have been asked or given. Wiser counsels prevailed, 
and the hot-headed went reluctantly to the rear. 

The next day General Sherman and General John- 
ston met to consider terms for the capitulation of the 
rebel army. The conference was held midway between 
the lines, and was regarded by the Union troops with 
great misgiving. They were fearful lest their General 
should be slain through treachery, and there was much 
alarm and nervousness until he had returned in safety 
within his own lines. 

Over in the corner yonder, is an old rusty saber, 
companion in these campaigns the narrative portrays. 
In its hilt is a frayed and dust-stained fragment of 
crape, twined therein under War Department orders 
requiring the army to wear mourning for six montlis, 
in memory of the lamented President. The period 
had not expired when the war ended, and he who wore 
it was mustered out of service ; and he leaves the 
mournful emblem in the sword-hilt to this day — 
the most saddening and sacred of his war relics. 



428 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XLIIL 



VICTORIA 




PRILlTth 

Generals Slierraan and 
^ Johnston met to ar- 
range for the capitu- 
lation of the last of 
the rebel armies. The 
former knew, but his men did not, 
that Lincoln had been assassinated. Other confer- 
ences followed, but as to their result the Union troops 
knew nothing. 

The people at home were aware that, for some rea- 
son or other, the terms offered Johnston by Sherman 
had been overruled at Washington, but this was not 
known to the army. 

The two armies lay in idleness, under flag of 
truce, until the 24th, seven days after negotiations 
had been opened, when General Grant suddenly 



VICTORIA ! 



431 



appeared upon the scene. His coming, taken in con- 
nection with the protracted delay, when all expected 
the declaration of a lasting peace, was painfully 
suggestive, and the troops concluded that Sherman's 
course was not satisfactory to the Government, and 
Grant had been sent to supersede him. There was 
no warrant for this conclusion, but the men believed 
it to be the fact, and so implicitly did they trust 
Sherman, that, ignorant of the merits of the case, they 
looked upon Grant, their former commander, with 
suspicion and jealousy, while under other circum- 
stances they would have been overjoyed to see him. 
This feeling was intensified when, on the day of Gen- 
eral Grant's arrival, orders were issued for the termin- 
ation of the truce, and the renewal of hostilities, at the 
expiration of the agreed forty-eight hours' notice. 
The men had supposed the war was over, their mission 
accomplished ; but they now felt that the wisdom and 
honor of their chief had been called in question ; and 
they were inclined to resent the interference. Hap- 
pily, however, before the expiration of the truce, 
another conference was held by the opposing com- 
manders, terms were arranged, and Johnston's men 
laid down their arms forever. 

The struggle was ended, and the curtain was now 
about to fall upon the final scene, a most fitting 
one, which was to shed added glory upon the 
gallant Sherman and his victorious hosts. 



432 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Here is the Line of Blue which marclied out of 
Cairo nearly four years ago and pressed on from vic- 
tory to victory, every halt adding one more to its list 
of heroic achievements. It invested Fort Henry, and 
stormed and carried Fort Donelson. It snatched 
victory from defeat at Sliiloh and Stone River. Vicks- 
burg fell before its dogged determination, and Look- 
out Mountain succumbed to its impetuous assault. 
Atlanta was literally hammered to pieces under its 
terrible blows. Then it defiantly marched eight hun- 
dred miles through the heart of a hostile territory, 
demanding and receiving the surrender of its foe at 
the very gate of his capital. It was the victor! It 
had the power and the right to exult! Its bands 
might play and its artillery thunder jubilant vol- 
leys! Well might its columns march with proud 
and arrogant step in sight of the enemy it had 
conquered! Now for the scenes honored in days ol 
chivalry! The disdainful look of the victor, the 
bended knee of the vanquished! The surrendered 
swords! The grounded muskets! The pillage of the 
camp! "To the victors belong the spoils!" 

No! nothing of this. The Line of Gray grounds 
arms in the seclusion of its own camp, and furls 
its ill-starred banners. The Line of Blue stacks arms 
in its own quarters. There is neither blare of band 
nor peal of cannon. But there is the outstretched 
hand, and with it the canteen and haversack! 



VICTORIA ! 



433 



It was pitiful to look upon those men in Gray. 
Engaged in a cause wliich had a great wrong — a 
crime against humanity and civilization — for its foun- 
dation, yet were they bone of our bone and flesh of 
our flesh. They had the same hardy manhood and 
the same stern devotion to what they misguidedly 
deemed to be right. As soldiers, they had won a right 
to be admired and honored. Ever in retreat, they 
made stout battle at every stopping-place. Defeat did 
not dishearten them, and to the very last they fought 
with conspicuous courage. In their butternut jeans, 
which by courtesy was known as a uniform, and their 
broad-brimmed, gray slouched hats, they looked any- 
thing but soldierly. That they should be such in 
reality was wonderful. Theirs had been a losing 
game from the first. The, vast majority had not re- 
ceived tidings from their families for many months; 
they only knew that the war tempest had swept over 
their homes ; and their fearful anxiety as to the fate 
of their loved ones was unappeased. They were 
poorly provisioned, and their medical department was 
worse than their commissariat; the two great necessi- 
ties of the field hospital, quinine and morphine, were 
rarely to be had. Yet amid all these hardships and 
discouragements they were courageous, self-reliant, 
even hopeful. All praise for their true soldiership! 
But shame and everlasting disgrace be upon the base 



28 



434 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



conspirators who imposed upon them so desperate an 
undertaking in so unholy a cause! 

The terms granted by General Sherman were most 
magnanimous. Field transportation and artillery 
horses belonging to the enemy were lent to them 
(such were the terms of the articles of agreement: 
practically it was a gift outright) for their march to 
their homes, and for subsequent use in industrial pur- 
suits. Each brigade or detachment was allowed arms 
for one-seventh its numerical strength, to enable those 
in charge to preserve order. 

There were those who criticised General Sherman 
severely for granting such favorable terms, which 
were, however, certainly in accord with the sentiment 
of his troops and the spirit of the age. It is highly 
probable that the censure visited upon him would 
have had no existence, had it not been for the unfortu- 
nate animadversions of War Secretary Stanton and 
General Halleck with reference to the terms first sub- 
mitted by General Sherman, which were overruled- at 
Washington. The rejected portions of this memoran- 
dum provided for the disbanding of the rebel army, 
the conduct of the men to their respective states, 
there to deposit arms and public property in the state 
arsenals ; the recognition, by the federal government, 
of the various state governments, on their officers and 
legislatures taking the oaths prescribed by the consti- 
tution of the United States; the people and all the in- 



VICTORIA ! 



435 



habitants of the (rebel) states to be guaranteed, so far 
as the Executive could, their political rights and fran- 
chises; and the executive authority of the United 
States not to disturb any of the people by reason of 
the late war, so long as they lived in peace and quiet, 
abstaining from acts of armed hostility, and obeying 
the laws in existence at the place of their residence. 

These conditions were properly overruled by the 
authorities at "Washington, but Secretary Stanton and 
General Halleck seemed to lose their heads, and the 
former authorized a semi-official " statement" which 
was an argument against the agreement. It asserted 
that the agreement practically acknowledged the rebel 
government, undertook to re-establish rebel state 
governments, relieving rebels from the effect of 
national victories, and placed in their hands arms and 
munitions of war which might be used, as soon as the 
national armies were disbanded, in a renewed effort to 
overthrow the national government and subdue the 
loyal states. 

It is remarkable to look back to that time, and note 
how high feeling rose against General Sherman, who 
the day before was regarded as a demi-god. A lead- 
ing paper, which had never faltered in its devotion to 
the cause, and had bestowed the most unstinted praise 
upon General Sherman, was led by Secretary Stan- 
ton's " statement " to make a bitter assault upon that 
officer. It said that "in reading the compact, one is 



436 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



at a loss to know which (Johnston or Sherman) 
agreed to surrender." These " infamous concessions" 
were " intended (sic) not only to secure full amnesty 
to every class of rebel offenders, but to open the way 
for the re-establishment of slavery." This " ignoble 
instrument might have become the Magna Charta of 
American slavery." The act of General Sherman was 
one of " dangerous insubordination." 

General Sherman contended that the agreement, by 
its very terms, and by every principle of law, could 
not be valid unless approved by the President; that in 
fact it was but a basis. He explained that he had 
taken extraordinary precautions to lay the matter be- 
fore the President in all its fullness, sending a staff 
officer to Washington, and enjoining upon him to 
avoid spies and informers, and say nothing to anybody 
until the President should make known his determina- 
tion. A few days later, in a letter to Secretary Stan- 
ton, in answer to the disapproval of the Government, 
General Sherman said: "I admit my folly in em- 
bracing, in a military convention, any civil matter." 
So late as March 3d, he supposed that all the discus- 
sion which had grown up between himself and the 
Government was in the nature of privileged commu- 
nications, unknown to the general public ; but on that 
day he read in the public prints of April 24th the 
" statement" of Secretary Stanton, together with the 
newspaper comments based upon it, and he exclaimed 



VICTOKIA ! 



437 



with righteous indignation: "It does seem strange 
to me that every bar-room loafer in New York can read 
in the morning journals £ official ' matter that is with- 
held from a General whose command extends from 
Kentucky to North Carolina." 

Meanwhile, General Halleck was further complicat- 
ing matters by ordering troops under his command to 
invade General Sherman's territory, and renew offen- 
sive operations, disregarding the truce existing be- 
tween Sherman and Johnston, pending discussion of 
the terms of surrender. At a fortunate moment Hal- 
leck' s order was revoked, and none too soon, for two 
bodies of federal troops were on the eve of collision. 

It is one of the most painful recollections to a 
soldier who bore arms in those days, that two officials 
so high in the esteem of the nation, each so necessary 
to the triumphant vindication of its authority, as 
Secretary Stanton and General Sherman, should have 
been so completely estranged by these unfortunate 
events, that, even in the hour of triumph, when the 
victorious armies of the nation marched before them, 
as they stood almost side by side on the Presidential 
reviewing stand in the national capital, neither recog- 
nized the other, and that one of the two went to his 
death, unforgiving and unforgiven, so far as the world 
can ever know. 



438 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTER XLIV 



SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 




USING the stay of the army 
at Raleigh, the foundation 
was laid for the organiza- 
tion of the Society of the 
Army of the Tennessee, the 
earliest, as well as the most 
conspicuous and successful, 
of the many social organiza- 
tions which have grown out of the companionships 
of camp and field. Its membership represents an 
army which had for its General, in turn, Grant, 
Sherman, McPherson, Howard and Logan. The 
achievements of that command were as brilliant and 
remarkable as the lives of its chiefs. Its nucleus 
was a half-dozen regiments which occupied Cairo 
when tJie first gun was fired. The little army grew to 
be seventeen thousand men, when it invested Fort 



SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 439 



Henry, and afterward stormed and carried Fort Don- 
elson. Farther on, its numbers were swelled to 
forty-two thousand men, who fought at Shiloh and 
Corinth under General Grant. It invested and con- 
quered Vicksburg, being then seventy-three thousand 
strong, comprising the Thirteenth Corps, McCler- 
nand's; Fifteenth Corps, Sherman's; Sixteenth Corps, 
Hurlbut's, and Seventeenth Corps, McPherson's. Its 
Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Corps, thirty-two 
thousand men, under General McPherson, participated 
in the campaign against Atlanta. Later, the Fifteenth 
and Seventeenth Corps, thirty-seven thousand men, 
under General Howard, marched to the sea, and after- 
ward through the Caroiinas, while its Thirteenth and 
Sixteenth Corps were fighting on Eed river, in Mis- 
souri, at Nashville, and Mobile. Few of its many 
regiments traveled less than six thousand miles in 
their wanderings during the war; many of them all 
but doubled this distance. Its roll of dead w^as ap- 
palling. 

If the history of this Army was phenomenal, the 
organization of the Society which sprang from it was 
dramatic. It was literally born amid the clash of 
arms; and the sound of the enemy's guns was the 
accompaniment to the songs of the camp at its first 
meeting. 

April 14th, Sherman's forces were grouped about 
Raleigh, North Carolina, under orders to move against 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the enemy the next morning. Later in the day, 
General Sherman received from General Johnston a 
letter proposing a truce, with a view to a cessation of 
hostilities, but this was not known to the army until 
afterward. 

That evening a number of officers of the Army of 
the Tennessee met in the senate chamber at Raleigh. 
All were in high spirits, for General Sherman's order 
had just been issued, in which he announced the sur- 
render of Lee's army to General Grant, adding: 
" Glory to God and our country, and all honor to our 
comrades in arms, toward whom we are marching. 
A little more labor, a little more toil on our part, the 
great race is won, and our government stands regene- 
rated, after four long years of war! " 

Among the company was General Frank P. Blair. 
He was in his happiest mood, and made a brilliant 
impromptu speech, congratulating his comrades upon 
the speedy conclusion of the war, and suggesting the 
organization of a Society "to preserve the recollections 
and renew from year to year the companionships of 
camp and field." A committee, with General Blair as 
chairman, was appointed to draft a plan for organiza- 
tion, and the meeting adjourned subject to call. At 
that very hour, President Lincoln fell at the hand of 
the assassin, but the sad intelligence did not reach the 
army until three days later. 

A further meeting was held April 25th, when 



SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 441 



General Blair reported a constitution, which was 
adopted. That paper embraced the following pro- 
visions : 

" I. The association shall be known as ' The 
Society of the Army of the Tennessee,' and shall 
include every officer who has served with honor in 
that army. 

"II. The object of the Society shall be to keep 
alive and preserve that kindly and cordial feeling 
which has been one of the characteristics of this army 
during its career in the service, and which has given 
it such harmony of action, and contributed, in no small 
degree, to its glorious achievements in our country's 
cause. 

" The fame and glory of all the officers belonging 
to this army, who have fallen, either on the field of bat- 
tle or in the line of their duty, shall be a sacred trust 
to tliis Society, which shall cause proper memorials of 
their services to be collected and preserved, and thus 
transmit their names with honor to posterity." 

General John A. Rawlins, General Grant's adju- 
tant-general, was elected president, and Colonel L. M. 
Dayton, General Sherman's aide-de-camp, secretary. 

At the time of this meeting, the army was under 
orders to move upon the enemy on the following day, 
General Sherman's negotiations with General John- 
ston having been overruled at Washington. 

In November of the same year, the war being 
ended, and the army disbanded, a large number of 
members of the Seventeenth Corps met in Chicago, 



442 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



and organized the Societies of the "White Arrow 1 ' 
and "Blue Arrow," supposing that the organization at 
Raleigh, had been abandoned. Their membership was 
composed of ex-officers of the Third and Fourth Divis- 
ions, and their titles were taken from their distinctive 
badges in the field. The two organizations united in 
a banquet at the Briggs House, and addresses were 
made by General Belknap, General Gresham, Colonel 
Dayton, and others. They adjourned to meet at 
Indianapolis, in November of the following year ; but, 
in the meantime, the president of the Society of the 
Army of the Tennessee issued his call for a meeting 
of that body at Cincinnati, about the same time, and 
the Division Societies abandoned their organizations. 

The meeting of the Society of the Army of the 
Tennessee at Cincinnati, in November, 1866, the first 
after the temporary organization at Raleigh, was suc- 
cessful and notable in every way. General Rawlins, 
the President, since deceased, delivered the annual 
address, which was an admirable resume of the history 
of the Army of the Tennessee ; and an original poem, 
" Men of the Tennessee," was read by T. Buchanan 
Read. 

At this meeting, an effort was made to modify the 
constitution so as to admit to membership all enlisted 
men who had served in the Army of the Tennessee, but 
without success. It was objected that "the society 
was formed before the close of the war, not in its pomp 



SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 443 



and circumstance, but in the theatre of military move- 
ment, and within the sound of hostile guns, and was, 
therefore, peculiar. At that time the discipline of 
service did not allow that character of association be- 
tween officers and men that the constitution of this 
society contemplated for its members, and the original 
principles and intentions of the Society should be 
adhered to." Frequent attempts have since been made 
to the same purpose ; but, thus far, unsuccessfully. 

After the death of the lamented Rawlins, General 
Sherman became President. He has been re-elected 
each succeeding year without opposition, and will 
undoubtedly be continued in the position so long as 
he lives. Colonel Dayton, Recording Secretary; Gen- 
eral Hickenlooper, Corresponding Secretary ; and Gen- 
eral Force, Treasurer, were also elected at that meet- 
ing, and have been re-elected each year since. 

The annual meetings of the Society are notable 
events, and attract the presence of the most dis- 
tinguished civilians, as well as military men, of the 
nation. The orations and responses to sentiments are 
worthy of the most cultured audiences of the land, 
and the banquets are very grand affairs. 

The meeting at Springfield, Illinois, in 1874, was 
one of national interest. Upon that occasion the Lin- 
coln Monument was displayed to the public, the statue 
of the great War-President being unveiled by General 



MABCHXNG THROUGH GEORGIA. 



Grant, himself President at the time, who delivered a 
brief but feeling address. 

Two years thereafter, the Society met in Washing- 
ton City, to participate in the observances connected 
with the unveiling of a monument reared to the 
memory of Major-General James B. McPherson, third 
commander of the Army of the Tennessee. This fine 
work of art was an equestrian statue in bronze, colos- 
sal in measurement and effect, the cost of which was 
defrayed, in greater part, by members of the Society, 
and altogether through their effort. The orator of 
the occasion was General John A. Logan, whose 
eloquent address was read throughout the length and 
breadth of the land. 

In 1879, the Society met in Chicago and there 
received General Grant, then en route east from his 
journey around the world. This event was made the 
occasion of one of the finest pageants ever witnessed 
in Chicago. 

This chapter would not be complete without some 
reference to General Sherman as a presiding officer. 
In this capacity he is sui generis, brusque, nervous, 
dispatching business at lightning speed, and cutting 
to pieces parliamentary rules as ruth - s : - \ly as he did 
red-tape in war times, when moving supplies to feed 
and clothe a vast army. He rarely waits for a motion, 
but proceeds upon his own suggestion of what should 
be done, and with a determination to do it. " We 



SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE. 445 

want a committee to select an orator, and I will name 
General Jones, Colonel Smith and Major Brown ; all 
in favor of the motion say ' aye! ' Carried." And so 
he pushes along after a fashion, it is fair to presume, 
" the boys " would tolerate in no one else. Would-be 
orators receive no mercy at his hands. "Yes; speak, 
Major; but a very few words. We understand all 
about it." "Now, don't make a speech, Colonel; let's 
vote," and so on. He cares nothing for popular 
applause. .As he entered the hall at Minnetonka, the 
members of the Society began to cheer. "Stop that 
foolishness," said he, "and let's get to business." 
Addressing the audience, made up in large part of the 
fashionables, he said: " Now, while we are carrying 
out this programme, we want quiet. We like to have 
these visitors here, but they must understand that 
this is a Society meeting, and we are not to be inter- 
rupted by applause from outsiders." At the banquet, 
where he invariably presides, he said: "It is now 
2 o'clock A. M., time for me to quit, and I think you 
had better quit too ! " At a Society meeting held in 
St. Louis, in one of the theatres, in the presence of a 
brilliant assemblage of the people of the city, a 
fashionable young man, occupying one of the boxes, 
took advantage of that stage of the proceedings where 
"the boys" call out any of their comrades whom they 
desire to hear, to rise in his place and state that 
" Several of us would like to hear from Mr. 



44:6 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

naming a civilian of some note. r 'Sit clown, young 
man!" thundered the General. "We are willing you 
aiid your friends should stay here and listen; but this 
is our meeting, and we propose to run it!" 

These eccentricities, however, are but incidents. 
General Sherman has a remarkable faculty for inter- 
jecting really pertinent comments or suggestions in 
course of a debate; and, as an after-dinner speaker he 
is inimitable, bestowing words of praise and advice in 
epigrammatic language. Upon one occasion he said: 

"How we all looked for him (Lincoln) to welcome 
us back to our homes, after our long and devious wan- 
derings; but it was not reserved for him, and another 
did it in his stead, while the whole nation stood by to 
proclaim with shouts of joy, ' Well done, good and 
faithful soldiers;' and now I, your old commander, 
re-echo the same sentiment, and tell you, you have your 
reward — not in money or precious jewels, not in lands 
or houses, but the consciousness of a noble duty well 
done, and in the possession of those priceless memo- 
ries that will become more and more precious as time 
rolls on. The day will come when not a man in this 
land of ours but would share with you his wealth 
could he say, like you, that he was of the Army 
of the Tennessee, and could tell his children that 
he had heard the first hostile shot "at Fort Henry 
and the last boom of cannon at Raleigh. 
Our men have returned to their homes in peace 
and quiet, and go where I may, I meet them, 
all more or less busy at their varied callings. 




SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OE THE TENNESSEE. 447 



Turn which way we may, we find our comrades 
busy, their swords turned into pruning-hooks, each 
planting his own vine and fig-tree, and no man 
afraid. Go, then, I say, and encourage honest indus- 
try everywhere. Have unbounded faith in your coun- 
try and its flag, and you will win for the Army of the 
Tennessee a fame in peace equal to that which you 
won for it in war ; and He who holds the fate of 
nations in the palm of His hand, will see that your 
labors are not in vain, and that the glory of your coun- 
try, for which you battled in war and labored in peace, 
shall not be tarnished by an insidious foe." 



4 48 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XLV. 



" ON TO WASHINGTON ! 55 




', V/ T last the army 

by 

m 

northward. 



turned its face 



"OntoWash- 
W l " ington ! " Four 
years before, the words were a war-cry. They were 
now the glad assurance of victory, peace, and home. 

It was an odd experience for the first few days, to 
jog along the road without stopping here and there to 
form a line of battle, and to go to sleep at night undis- 
turbed by a midnight call to re-inforce the skirmishers. 
The occupation of the " bummer" was gone. No 
straggling or plundering was tolerated, nor was there 
any disposition in that direction ; chickens and butter- 
milk were now bought with Uncle Sam's greenbacks, 
instead of being "cramped." The citizens no longer 



"on to Washington!" 



449 



fled at the approach of the blue-coated army; but wo- 
men and children flocked to the road to see them pass ; 
and, not infrequently, one of Lee's or Johnston's men, 
still clad in his "butternut" suit, which had passed 
for a uniform, leaned over his gate to crack a joke with 
his deadly enemies of a few days before. " Say, Yank! 
ain't you 'uns a long way from home ? " " You, 

Johnny! why in the don't you fix up that fence? " 

" Say, Yank ! you 'uns licked us, but we gin you a 

of a 'rassle ' ! " " You bet you did, Johnny ! " 

And then the two would agree that Sherman's men 
and Lee's (or Johnston's, as the case might be) could 
together " clean out " (that was their way of express- 
ing it) any nation on earth. 

The line of march lay through many points of his- 
toric interest, at which the pen insists upon halting 
for the moment — down the Boydtown Plank Eoad, 
rendered famous by the brilliant closing engagements 
fought by gallant Phil. Sheridan ; to Dinwiddie Court- 
house, where he fought a fierce battle ; and Five 
Forks, the scene of what was at once his most brilliant 
victory, and one of the most decisive of the war. 

Passing by the old farm where General Winfield 
Scott was born, the army crossed the Appomattox 
river, and entered Petersburg, famous for sustaining a 
siege comparable only to that of Vicksburg. 

Two days afterward, Manchester was reached, on 
e south side of the James river, immediately oppo- 
29 



450 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



site Richmond. Here were first met Casters gallant 
troopers, who, despite their hard riding and stout fight- 
ing, were so often near to their base of supplies, that 
they were generally able to appear very presentably. 
They wore paper collars, and affected long scarfs which 
fluttered from their necks, each brigade wearing a 
distinguishing color. These evidences of excessive 
" style" were regarded by Sherman's ragged roys- 
terers with great contempt, and their sharp comments 
were extremely irritating to the victims. 

Across the river lay Richmond, the rebel capital, 
which had been, for four years past, in a state of siege. 
General Halleck was in command here, and between 
him and Sherman some unpleasantness had arisen, 
growing out of the discussion with reference to the 
peace negotiations at Raleigh. Halleck issued an 
order requiring Sherman's army to pass in review 
before him at Richmond. Sherman refused, where- 
upon Halleck forbade the army entering the city at all. 
The bridge across the river had been destroyed, and 
a pontoon, laid in its place, was guarded by Halleck' s 
troops. The cranky and contemptuous order by that 
officer, with reference to Sherman's army, soon became 
known to the men of that command, and they deter- 
mined to go into Richmond at all hazards. Accord- 
ingly, a large body, unarmed and without officers or 
orders, made a charge across the bridge, overpowering 
the guards by sheer weight of numbers. No one was 



" ON TO WASHINGTON ! " 453 

hurt, but some of Halleck's bridge guards were uncer- 
emoniously dumped into the river, whence they scram- 
bled out as best they eould. The affair was entirely 
irregular and unmilitary, but that Sherman enjoyed it 
in a quiet way is not to be doubted. 

The next day the army entered Eichmond in regu- 
lar order. Many points of interest were noted with 
keen curiosity, especially the mansion so long occu- 
pied by Jeff Davis, the civil chief of the " Confed- 
eracy," and the state capitol, which had been the quar- 
ters of the Confederate congress. These and other 
public buildings were heavily draped in mourning 
for President Lincoln, by order of the Union authori- 
ties. The capitol grounds were rich in statuary. Here 
was Houdon's magnificent statue of Washington, 
and near it a fine marble bust of Lafavette. The 
finest work of art, however, was Crawford's bronze 
equestrian statue of Washington ; and, grouped about 
it, the figures of John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson and 
Patrick Henry. More than half of the city was in 
ashes, having been fired by the retreating enemy, just 
before the national forces entered. 

Libby Prison was viewed with a mournful interest. 
It was an immense building, three or four stories high, 
once used as a tobacco warehouse ; but, since the be- 
ginning of the war, as a prison for federal captives, 
who were crowded into it until there was absolutely no 
room for more. The walls were covered with inscrip- 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



tions written by the unhappy occupants, all breathing 
an air of hopeless despondency, yet full of bitter 
hatred for the rebels, and lurid with blasphemous 
anathemas. Among them was one, said to have been 
composed by Parson Brownlow, a rather doubtful 
statement, inasmuch as he never boarded at Libby, 
and was a clergyman besides. The words had been 
set to music, and it was said that the prisoners were 
accustomed to sing them with great vigor, howling the 
refrain at the top of their voices, sometimes aggra- 
vating the rebel guards on the outside to such a degree 
as to cause them to fire a few shots at the upper win- 
dows, in the vain hope of putting a stop to the dis- 
turbance. The verses were as follows : 

O ! may that cuss, Jeff Davis, float, 

Glory, Hallelujah! 
On stormy sea, in open boat, 
In Iceland's cold, without a coat, 

Glory, Hallelujah ! 

No rudder, compass, sail, or oar, 

Glory, Hallelujah ! 
A million miles away from shore, 
Where myriad briny monsters roar, 

Glory, Hallelujah ! 

May shark devour them, stem ana stem. 

Glory, Hallelujah ! 
A whale then gulp them down in turn, 
And the devil get the whole concern, 

Glory, Hallelujah ! 

In burning brimstone may he be, 

Glory, Hallelujah ! 
While little devils dance in glee. 
And lock the door, and lose the key, 

Glory. Hallelujah ! 



"ON TO WASHINGTON!" 



455 



And 'mid his roars and frantic cries, 

Glory, Hallelujah ! 
O make eternal ashes rise, 
And blow forever in his eyes, 

Glory, Hallelujah ! 

The floors of Libby were marked off with checker- 
boards and faro lay-outs, testifying to the efforts made 
by the prisoners to kill time. These species of amuse- 
ment, however, were only available in the early war- 
days ; later on, the building was too crowded to admit 
of anything of the kind. The remains of the cele- 
brated tunnel under the wall, made by Colonel 
Straight, in his effort to escape, were yet visible. 

After crossing James river, the army passed by 
Hanover Court-house. This famous old building was 
erected in 1732, and many of the original oak benches 
yet remained. Within these walls Patrick Henry 
pleaded his first case in behalf of the people, against 
the privileged clergy under the British crown, and 
won a grand victory. He was borne out of these 
doors in triumph upon the shoulders of the people, 
and was famous from that instant. 

Near at hand was an old church, which afforded a 
relic of peculiar interest — an old folio Bible, contain- 
ing the service of the Church of England. In the 
printed text of the prayer for civil rulers, the name of 
" His Gracious Majesty, George the Third," had been 
marked over with red pencil, and immediately above 
it, well nigh faded out, were the words, written in ink, 
"The President and Congress of the United States." 



4:56 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

From Richmond on, the line of march lay through 
a country bristling with field-works, and strewn with 
the debris of vast camps. At one place w r as quite 
a thicket of young peach-trees, which a farmer living 
near by said had grown up from seeds thrown away by 
the soldiers after eating the canned fruit. 

Crossing the Pamunkey and Mattapony rivers, the 
army passed through Fredericksburg, and halted on 
the farther bank of the Rappahannock. 

This was the range occupied by Burnside that dis- 
astrous day in December of 1862. It was quite high, 
well nigh destitute of timber, and commanded a fine 
view for miles to right and left. Across the stream 
lay the village, scatteringly spread over ground slop- 
ing to the river's edge ; and just beyond the town was 
visible a heavily wooded ridge, partly crowned with 
the stone fence which served the confederate army to 
so good purpose. It required but little imagination to 
fill out so suggestive a landscape with batteries and 
troops, and paint that dreadful battle scene. From 
the point of observation, two hundred pieces of fed- 
eral artillery discharged their terrible volleys across 
the stream, into and through the streets of Fredericks- 
burg, and shot for shot was hurled back by Stonewall 
Jackson and Longstreet. Under this fire, pontoon 
bridges were laid by the federals, one at a point imme- 
diately before us, where Sumner and Hooker passed 
over. They assaulted Longstreet immediately oppo- 



" ON TO WASHINGTON ! " 



457 



site this very ground. The enemy was silent until the 
gallant troops were within short musket-range. Then 
they opened fire — Longstreet said the gaps made in 
the Union column by his artillery could be seen a 
half-mile off. But the boys in blue manfully strug- 
gled on toward the stone fence they were never to 
reach. From behind it leaped a very hell of flame 
from small arms, and batteries right and left poured in 
an enfilading fire of grape and canister, that human 
flesh and blood could not withstand. The Unionists 
were compelled to retreat. Their comrades on the left 
fared no better, and the battle was lost. 

Fredericksburg cherishes, as one of its greatest 
treasures, the grave of Edward Heldon, who was a 
contemporary of Shakspeare, and one of the pall- 
bearers at the funeral of the immortal bard. 

Marching via Stafford Court-house and Acquia 
Creek, the army entered Alexandria, inseparably con- 
nected with the memory of the gallant Ellsworth, 
whose murder early in 1861, caused a profound sensa- 
tion throughout the North, and drew thousands of men 
into the Union army. The story was once familiar, 
but is probably new to many of a younger generation. 

In 1860, young Ellsworth, a clerk in a business 
house in Chicago, interested himself in organizing and 
drilling an independent military company, known as 
" Ellsworth's Zouaves." This corps soon became noted 
for its admirable drill, particularly in the manual of 



453 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA, 



arms, which abounded in fancy movements not recog- 
nized by the books, and the bayonet exercise. It gave 
exhibition drills in all the principal cities, creating a 
furore of excitement. Ellsworth, soon after his return 
from this trip, went to Springfield to study law with 
Mr. Lincoln, and accompanied him on the journey to 
Washington, being charged with his safe conduct. 
When the war began, the young officer organized a 
regiment of volunteers in New York, and became its 
colonel. 

During the early war days, while troops were 
assembling at Washington, a rebel flag flying at 
Alexandria was plainly to be seen from the national 
capitol. Chafing under the insult, Ellsworth deter- 
mined to capture the flag. With his regiment he 
marched to Alexandria, where he found the defiant 
emblem of treason floating from the roof of a hotel. 
He tore down the offensive colors, and descended with 
them upon his arm. At the foot of the stairs he 
encountered the landlord, Jackson by name, who dis- 
charged the contents of a double-barreled shot-gun 
into his breast, the deadly charge killing him instantly, 
and driving into his body a gold military badge 
recently presented to him, bearing the significant 
legend, " Nan nobis, sed pro patria" The murder 
was avenged by Frank Brownell, a member of the 
regiment, who shot Jackson dead with his minie- 



k ON TO WASHINGTON ! " 



459 



rifle, and the same instant ran him through with his 
sword-bayonet. 

Ellsworth was buried from the White House at 
Washington, with imposing ceremonies. Brownell 
was ever afterward known as " Ellsworth's avenger,' ' 
and he is to this day a noted and honored figure at the 
many military gatherings he attends. He yet has in 
his possession the weapon with which he avenged the 
death of his chief. His home is in Cleveland, Ohio, 
where he is engaged in the custom-house service. 



460 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



CHAPTEE XLVI. 



THE GRAND REVIEW. 




|HE army left Raleigh 
North Carolina, April 
29th, and arrived at 
Alexandria, near Wash- 
ington City, May 19th. 
The march occupied 
twenty days, and the 
distance traveled was 
fully three hundred 
miles, an average of fifteen miles 
a day — pretty fair marching, con- 
sidering the fact that haste was 
unnecessary. 

At Washington, the troops, 
under reasonable restrictions, enjoyed the freedom of 
the city, and explored all the public buildings and 
other places of interest, to their hearts' content ; and 
greatly to their credit, they took no undue advantage 
of the liberties granted them. 



THE GRAND REVIEW. 461 

May 23d and 24th, the armies passed in final re- 
view, previous to discharge. 

Never before was such a sublime pageant witnessed 
by mortal eye — the review of two hundred thousand 
citizen soldiery, weather-beaten veterans, flushed with 
victory, fit to conquer a world, yet who on the morrow 
would doff the habiliments of war, and return to the 
office, the work-shop, and the farm. The wisest states- 
men had dreaded this day. Foreign, but not unfriendly, 
ministers said: "The United States have easily raised 
great armies, but will never be able to return to a 
peace footing. The soldiers are masters of the situa- 
tion ; they can never be disbanded." Ardent patriots 
at home feared that the demoralization of life in the 
field, the utter freedom from restraints of social ties 
and civil laws during so long a time, would unfit men 
for taking up the dull routine of peaceful pursuits, 
and lawlessness would run rampant. There were 
designing men w r ho, seeking their own advancement, 
held the same views, and selfishly sought to lead 
many of the troops into ambitious exploits in anarchi- 
cal Mexico. 

But the soldiers of the Union were no mere adven- 
turers. They at once allayed the fears of friends, and 
disappointed the hopes of demagogues; proclaiming, 
by their conduct, their own unimpeachable integrity 
as conscientious soldiers and inimitable citizens. They 
laid aside the sword and musket as readily as they 
had taken them up, four years before. 



462 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



]\Iay 23d. General Meade's grand army debouched 
upon Pennsylvania Avenue and poured down the 
broad street in admirable order. Heroes, all! No 
army, save that gallant, mistaken band it had assailed 
for four long years, ever stood up so nobly under 
severe punishment. At times, victims of incom- 
petency and jealousy in high places, sacrificed on 
many a bloody altar, their courage never failed, 
their hopes never died out. their faith in the final 
result never faltered. Here were the men who learned 
the alphabet of war at the first Bull Run, crushed 
there only to rise in superior vigor and courage; the 
battalions which stood up under the terrible seven 
days' butchery in the Peninsula ; the brigades which 
snatched victory from a haughty foe at Antietam ; the 
survivors of the murdered legions at Chancellorsville 
and Fredericksburg ; the hosts who mined and charged 
at Petersburg; the victorious columns which com- 
pelled rebellion to bow its head at Appomatox! Their 
colors were riddled by shot and shell; every rent 
stood for a battle, and scores of human lives. Erect 
and proud, they strode down the broad avenue, every 
foot in time, every musket perfectly poised, while a 
glad people, gathered from all parts of the nation, 
strewed flowers before them, and shouted themselves 
hoarse in their praise. 

That night General Sherman's army crossed the 
Long Bridge from Alexandria and bivouacked in the 



THE GRAND REVIEW. 



463 



streets entering upon Pennsylvania Avenue. At nine 
o'clock next morning it began the march in review. 

The avenue was literally packed with people on 
either side ; every window was occupied, and the very 
house-tops were black with humanity. General Sher- 
man and his staff led the way. It was amusing to the 
troops to note the complete equipment of him whom 
they had seen almost daily for years in a dingy 
uniform, carelessly worn, which many a brigadier 
would have thought disgraceful. His horse's neck 
was covered with wreaths of flowers by admiring 
spectators. Then came Howard, the gentle but brave, 
commanding the Army of the Tennessee; his empty 
coat sleeve, pinned upon the breast, mutely proclaiming 
his deeds of courage. Then rode Logan, at the head 
of his gallant Fifteenth Corps, once Sherman's. None 
asked his name — he was known of all ; swarthy of com- 
plexion, with heavy black mustache and eagle eye, he 
was the image of a born soldier. Then followed his 
division commanders : Hazen, who stormed Fort McAl- 
lister, and Woods, Smith and Rice, with brigade 
commanders, Tourtelotte, of Allatoona fame; and 
Clark, so long McPherson's accomplished adjutant- 
general, and others. Then came Frank P. Blair, the 
liberator of Missouri, and gallant soldier of many a 
bloody field, leading the Seventeenth Corps, McPher- 
son's j 1 J command. After him were the division com- 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



manders, Force, Leggett and Smith; with Belknap, 
Potts and others, leading brigades. 

But who could picture the hosts that followed? 
Here were the men who had taught new lessons to the 
masters of war. Such terms as " lines of retreat " and 
"base of supplies" were not in their vocabulary. 
Their strong backs almost made unnecessary commis- 
sary and ammunition trains. Their swift limbs out- 
ran and outlasted horses. Ten thousand mile posts 
marked the roads they had traversed, through every 
revolted state save two. They were the men who. 
fought at Belmont and assaulted Fort Donelson. 
They had been crushed at Shiloh; and while the 
enemy was reaping the fruits of victory, snatched it 
from him. They had fought over every foot of 
ground within thirty miles of Corinth. They had 
lain in the trenches at Yicksburg for three bloody 
months, and when they rose from before that strong- 
hold, the mighty river "went unvexed to the sea." 

7 O %J 

They had shattered Bragg at Stone River and Chick- 
amauga, and rescued the beleaguered garrison at 
Chattanooga, planting their standards above the very 
clouds. Foot by foot they had pressed their enemy 
back upon Atlanta, and after a well-fought struggle of 
nearly half a year, wrested that mighty stronghold 
from him. They had dissected the very bowels of the 
' ' Confederacy ? * by their march to the sea, and be- 
stowed upon the nation Savannah, as a " Christmas 



THE GRAND REVIEW. 



465 



gift." Three hundred miles farther they had pressed 
their enemy, and received his surrender as they were 
stripping themselves to give the coup de grace. 

With heads erect and an air of indescribable sang 
froid, these men of the West stretched down Penn- 
sylvania Avenue with an easy, swinging gait, peculiar 
to themselves, acquired in long and rapid marches. 
They wore no holiday garb. The ragged and faded 
uniforms in which they had slept and marched, 
through the swamps of the Carolinas, still clung to 
their bodies, and they strode along as if proud to dis- 
play them as badges of faithful service. They were 
so regarded by the tens of thousands of spectators, 
and cheers upon cheers followed them from the begin- 
ning to the end. 

There were some very comical features even in the 
midst of all this grandeur. In the rear of many regi- 
ments were the pack mules loaded down with kettles, 
pans, gridirons, and all the paraphernalia of the darkey 
cook, who trudged alongside, consciously feeling the 
dignity of his office; besides squads of "contrabands," 
who, with their game-cocks, banjos and plantation 
airs, provoked much mirth. 

From the Treasury Department a large concourse 
of Government servants and others viewed the troops ; 
and high up on the building was displayed the legend, 
" The only debt the nation can never pay is that of 
gratitude it owes to its gallant defenders." 



466 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



The grand reviewing stand was erected in front of 
the White House. Here stood the President and 
Commander-in-Chief, Andrew Johnson. The troops 
proudly recognized his presence ; but there was not a 
heart in all that vast concourse of soldiers and specta- 
tors which did not ache with sorrow that Lincoln, the 
loved and true-hearted, had not lived to see this, the 
consummation of his highest effort and most ardent 
hopes. Here, too, were Grant and Sherman, and 
about them, offering heartfelt congratulations and 
bestowing unstinted praise, the statesmen of the 
nation, and the be jeweled ministers of every foreign 
land. 

As the grand pageant rises once more before the 
eye. memory recurs to the hosts who did not live to 
participate in this great national jubilee. It must 
have been with similar emotions that Bret Harte 
wrote that noble bit of sentiment, " The Last Review " : 

M And I saw a phantom army come 
With never a sound of fife or drum, 
But keeping time to a throbbing hum 

Of wailing and lamentation; 
The martyred heroes of Malvern Hill, 
Of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville, 
The men whose wasted figures fill 

The patriot graves of the nation. 

11 And there came the nameless dead — the men 
Who perished in fever-swamp and fen, 
The slowly-starved of prison pen ; 

And marching beside the others 
Came the dusky martyrs of Pillow's fight, 




See page 145. 



THE GRAND REVIEW. 



469 



With limbs enfranchised and bearing bright ; 
I thought — perhaps, 'twas the pale moonlight— 
They looked as white as their brothers. 

" And so all night marched the nation's dead, 
With never a banner above them spread, 
Nor a badge, nor a motto brandished ; 
No mark — save the bare, uncovered head, 

Of the silent bronze Reviewer ; 
With never an arch save the vaulted sky ; 
With never a flower save those that lie 
On the distant graves — for love could buy 
No gift that was purer nor truer. 

" So all night long swept the strange array, 
So all night long, till the morning gray, 
I watched for one who had passed away, 

With a reverent awe and wonder — 
Till a blue cap waved in the lengthening line, 
And I knew that one who was kin of mine 
Had come; and I spake — and lo! that sign 

Awakened me from my slumber ! " 

May 30th, General Sherman issued his farewell 
order, in which he eloquently rehearsed the achieve- 
ments of his army, and to which he added some excel- 
lent words of admonition. As a matter of fact, most 
of the troops had left Washington for their homes 
before the order was published, and many an old 
soldier will read it in these pages for the first time: 

^Special Field Orders, No. 76.) 

Headquarters, Military Division of the Mississippi, 
Washington, D. C, May 30, 1865. 
The General commanding announces to the Armies of the Tennes- 
see and Georgia that the time has come for us to part. Our work is 
done and armed enemies no longer defy us. Some of you will go to 
your homes, and others will be retained in military service till further 
orders. 



470 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



And now that we are all about to separate, to mingle with the civil 
world, it becomes a pleasing duty to recall to mind the situation of 
national affairs when, but a little more than a year ago, we were 
gathered about the cliffs of Lookout Mountain, and all the future was 
wrapped in doubt and uncertainty. 

Three armies had come together from distant fields, with separate 
histories, yet bound by one common cause — the union of our country 
and the perpetuation of the Government of our inheritance. There is no 
need to recall to your memories Tunnel Hill, with Rocky Face Moun- 
tain and Buzzard Roost Gap, and the ugly forts of Dalton behind. 

We were in earnest, and paused not for danger and difficulty, but 
dashed through Snake Creek Gap and fell on Resaca; then on to the 
Etowah, to Dallas, Kenesaw; and the heats of summer found us on the 
banks of the Chattahoochee, far from home, and dependent on a single 
road for supplies. Again we were not to be held back by any obstacle; 
we crossed over and fought four hard battles for the possession of the 
citadel of Atlanta. That was the crisis of our history. A doubt still 
clouded our future, but we solved the problem, destroyed Atlanta, struck 
boldly across the State of Georgia, severed all the main arteries of life to 
our enemy, and Christmas found us at Savannah. 

Waiting there only long enough to fill our wagons, we again began 
a march which, for peril, labor and results, will compare with any ever 
made by an organized army. The floods of the Savannah, the swamps 
of the Combahee and Edisto, the " high hills " and rocks of the Santee, 
the flat quagmires of the Pedee and Cape Fear rivers were all passed in 
mid-winter, with its floods and rains, in the face of an accumulating 
enemy , and, after the battles of Averysboro' and Bentonsville, we came 
once more out of the wilderness, to meet our friends at Goldsboro'. 
Even then we paused only long enough to get new clothing, to reload 
our wagons, again pushed on to Raleigh and beyond, until we met our 
enemy suing for peace instead of war, and offering to submit to the 
injured laws of his and our country. 

As long as that enemy was defiant, nor mountains, nor rivers, nor 
swamps, nor hunger, nor cold had checked us ; but when he, who had 
fought us hard and persistently, offered submission, your General 
thought it wrong to pursue him farther, and negotiations followed, 
which resulted, as you all know, in his surrender. 

How far the operations of this army contributed to the final over- 
throw of the Confederacy, and the peace which now dawns upon us, 
must be judged by others, not by us ; but that you have done all men 
could do has been admitted by those in authority, and we have a right 
to join in the universal joy that fills our land because the war is over, 



THE GRAND REVIEW. 



471 



and our Government stands vindicated before the world by the joint 
action of the volunteer armies and navy of the United States. 

To such as remain in the service, your General need only remind 
you that success in the past was due to hard work and discipline, and 
that the same work and discipline are equally important in the future. 
To such as go home, he will only say that our favored country is so 
grand, so extensive, so diversified in climate, soil and productions, that 
every man may find a home and occupation suited to his taste," none 
should yield to the natural impatience sure to result from our past life 
of excitement and adventure. You will be invited to seek new adven- 
tures abroad ; do not yield to the temptation, for it will only lead to 
death and disappointment. 

Your General now bids you farewell, with the full belief that, as in 
war you have been good soldiers, so in peace you will make good 
citizens ; and if, unfortunately, new war should arise in our country, 
" Sherman's Army" will be the first to buckle on its old armor and come 
forth to defend and maintain the Government of our inheritance. 
By order of 

Major-General W. T. Sherman, 

L. M. Dayton, 

Assistant Adjutant-General. 

June 2d, fpllowing, Lieutenant - General Grant 
issued the following : 

Soldiers of the Armies of the United States: 

By your patriotic devotion to your country in the hour of danger 
and alarm, your magnificent fighting, bravery and endurance, you have 
maintained the supremacy of the Union and the Constitution, overthrown 
all armed opposition to the enforcement of the laws and of the proclama- 
tions forever abolishing slavery— the cause and pretext of the rebellion — 
and opened the way to the rightful authorities to restore order and 
inaugurate peace on a permanent and enduring basis on every foot of 
American soil. Your marches, sieges and battles, in distance, dura- 
tion, resolution, and brilliancy of results, dim the lustre of the world's 
past military achievements, and will be the patriots' precedent in defense 
of liberty and right, in all time to come. In obedience to your country's 
call, you left your homes and families, and volunteered in its defense. 
Victory has crowned your valor, and secured the purpose of your patri- 
otic hearts ; and with the gratitude of your countrymen, and the highest 
honors a great and free nation can accord, you will soon be permitted to 
return to your homes and families, conscious of having discharged the 



4.72 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



highest duties of American citizens. To achieve these glorious tri- 
umphs, and secure to yourselves, your fellow-countrymen, and posterity, 
the blessings of free institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant com- 
rades have fallen, and sealed the priceless legacy with their blood. The 
graves of these, a grateful nation bedews with tears, honors their memo- 
ries, and will ever cherish and support their stricken families. 

U. S. Grant, 
Lieutenant-General. 



HOMEWARD BOUND ! 



473 



CHAPTER XL VII. 

HOMEWARD BOUND ! 

HE western 
troops, a few 
clays after the 
grand review, 
moved liome- 




ward over the 
Baltimore & 



Ohio Railway. 

The supply of passenger-coaches was altogether in- 
adequate to the great demand, and the men were 
obliged to put up with flat and box cars for the jour- 
ney. It was no great hardship, compared with what 
they had undergone daily during the year past. For- 
tunately, the weather was unexceptionable, and there 
was ample opportunity to enjoy the magnificent 
scenery on that famous route. 

At Parkersburg, West Virginia, the troops em- 
barked upon steamboats for Louisville. A serious 
accident, with collateral comical incidents (what would 
" soldiering" have been without such ?), befell a por- 




474 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



tion of the command. The boat bearing the 32d Illi- 
nois Regiment was engaged in a race with another 
vessel of the fleet, when, just below Blennerhassett's 
Island, the former ran into a barge, knocking a hole 
in her own bows. Almost as soon as it could be told, 
the bottom dropped out of the craft, and she settled on 
the river-bed, the water rising so high as to overflow 
the cabin-deck. Quick as was the boat to sink, the 
negroes and teamsters on the lower deck managed to 
cut loose the horses and mules, and* they swam to 
shore ; while the men who could not swim, straddled 
gang-planks, wagon-beds, and anything that would 
float, and continued their voyage toward Louisville 
upon their own account. 

At the time the boat struck, a merry party was 
seated at a card-table in the cabin above, immediately 
in front of the bar. When the shock came, all jumped 
to their feet and rushed to the guards. While they 
were making up their minds whether to leap over- 
board or not, a sudden jar indicated that the boat had 
struck bottom, and they immediately returned to their 
game, unwilling to lose time for a trifle. Another 
blue-coat took possession of the bar (which had been 
left open by the bar-keeper, in his haste to jump over- 
board), and insisted upon dealing out free drinks to 
all who remained on the craft. Half an hour later, the 
shipwrecked passengers were taken off by another boat 
belonging to the fleet, which, after repeated stoppages 



HOMEWAKD BOUND. 



475 



at islands and clumps of timber on the banks, suc- 
ceeded in picking up all the soldiers who had aban- 
doned their own sinking craft. Fortunately no lives 
were lost, but a good deal of personal baggage was 
never seen afterward. 

Soon after reaching Louisville, orders were issued 
for the dispatch of the troops to their respective states 
for muster-out. General Logan, commanding the 
Army of the Tennessee, just before the disbandment 
occurred, issued the following farewell order : 

Headquarters Army of the Tennessee, 

Louisville, Ky., July 13, 1865, 

Officers and Soldiers of the Army of tJie Tennessee. 

The profound gratification I feel in being authorized to release you 
from the onerous obligations of the camp, and return you, laden with 
laurels, to homes where warm hearts wait to welcome you, is somewhat 
embittered by the reflection that I am sundering the ties that trials have 
made true, time made tender, suffering made sacred, perils made proud, 
heroism made honorable, and fame made forever fearless of the future. 
It is no common occasion- that demands the disbandment of a military 
organization, before the resistless power of which, mountains bristling 
with bayonets have bowed, cities surrendered, and millions of brave men 
been conquered. 

Although I have been but a short period your commander, we are 
not strangers ; affections have sprung up between us during the long 
years of doubt, gloom, and carnage, through which we have passed 
together; nurtured by common perils, sufferings and sacrifices, and riveted 
by the memories of gallant comrades, whose bones repose beneath the 
sod of a hundred battle-fields, nor time nor distance will weaken nor 
efface. 

The many marches you have made, the dangers you have despised, 
the haughtiness you have humbled, the duties you have discharged, the 
glory you have gained, the destiny you have discovered for the country 
in whose cause you have conquered, all recur at this moment, in the 
vividness that marked the scenes through which we have just passed. 

From the pens of the ablest historians of the land, daily are drifting 



476 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



out upon the current of time, page upon page, volume upon volume, of 
your heroic deeds, which, floating down to future generations, will 
inspire the student with admiration, the patriotic American with venera- 
tion for his ancestors, and the lover of Republican liberty with gratitude 
to those who, in a fresh baptism of blood, re-consecrated, the powers and 
energies of the Republic to the cause of constitutional freedom. Long- 
may it be the happy fortune of every one of you, to live in the full frui- 
tion of the boundless blessings you have secured to the human race. 

Only he whose heart has been thrilled with admiration for your 
impetuous courage and unyielding valor in the thickest of the fight, can 
appreciate with what pride I recount these brilliant achievements which 
immortalize you, and enrich the pages of our national history. Passing 
by the earlier but not less signal triumphs of the war, in which most of 
you participated, and inscribed upon your banners such victories as 
Donelson and Shiloh, the mind recurs to campaigns, sieges, and vic- 
tories, that challenge the admiration of the world, and elicited the 
unwilling applause of all Europe. Turning your backs upon the blood- 
bathed heights of Vicksburg, you launched into a region swarming with 
enemies, marching without adequate supplies, and fighting your way, to 
answer the cry for succor which came to you from the noble be- 
leaguered army at Chattanooga. Your steel next flashed among the 
mountains of Tennessee, and your weary limbs found rest before the 
embattled heights of Missionary Ridge. There, with dauntless courage, 
you breasted again the enemy's destructive fire, and shared with your 
comrades of the Army of the Cumberland the glories of a victory than 
which no soldiery can boast a prouder. 

In that unexampled campaign of vigilant and vigorous warfare, 
from Chattanooga to Atlanta, you freshened your laurels at Resaca, 
grappling with the enemy behind his works, hurling him back, dis- 
mayed and broken. Pursuing him thence, marking your path by the 
graves of fallen comrades, you again triumphed over superior numbers at 
Dallas. Fighting your way from there to Kenesaw Mountain, under the 
murderous artillery that frowned from its rugged heights, with a tenacity 
and constancy that finds few parallels, you labored, fought and suffered 
through the broiling rays of a southern midsummer sun, until at last you 
planted your colors upon its topmost heights. Again, on the 22d of 
July, 1S64, rendered memorable through all time for the terrible struggle 
you so heroically maintained under discouraging disasters, and, saddest 
of all reflections, the loss of that exemplary soldier and popular leader, 
the lamented McPherson, your matchless courage turned defeat into a 
glorious victory. Ezra Chapel and Jonesboro' added new lustre to a 
radiant record, the latter unbarring to you the proud Gate City of the 
South. The daring of a desperate foe, in thrusting his legions north- 



HOMEWARD BOUND ! 



477 



ward, exposed the country in your front, and though rivers, swamps, 
and enemies opposed, you boldly surmounted every obstacle, beat down 
all opposition, and marched to the sea. 

Without any act to dim the brightness of your historic page, the 
world rang plaudits when your labors and struggles culminated at Savan- 
nah, and the old "Starry Banner" waved once more over the walls of 
one of our proudest cities on the seaboard. Scarcely a breathing spell 
had passed, when your colors faded from the coast, and your columns 
plunged into the t vamps of the Carolinas. The sufferings you endured, 
the labors you performed, and the successes you achieved in those 
morasses, deemed impassable, form a creditable episode in the history of 
the war. Pocataligo, Salkahatchie, Edisto, Branchville, Orangeburg, 
Columbia, Bentonville, Charleston, and Raleigh, are names that will 
ever be suggestive of the resistless sweep of your columns through the 
territory that cradled and nurtured, and from whence was sent forth on 
its mission of crime, misery, and blood, the disturbing and disorganizing 
spirit of secession and rebellion. 

The work for which you pledged your brave hearts and brawny 
arms to the Government of your fathers, you have nobly performed. 
You are seen in the past, gathering through the gloom that enveloped 
the land, rallying as the guardians of man's proudest heritage, forget- 
ting the thread unwoven in the loom, quitting the anvil, and abandoning 
the workshops, to vindicate the supremacy of the laws, and the author- 
ity of the Constitution ! Four years have you struggled in the bloodiest 
and most destructive war that ever drenched the earth in human gore ; 
step by step you have borne our standard, until to-day, over every 
fortress and arsenal that rebellion wrenched from us, and over city, 
town, and hamlet, from the lakes to the gulf, and from ocean to ocean, 
proudly floats the " starry emblem" of our National unity and 
strength. 

Your reward, my comrades, is the welcoming plaudits of a grateful 
people, the consciousness that in saving the Republic, you have won for 
your country renewed respect and power, at home and abroad ; that with 
the unexampled era of growth and prosperity which dawns with peace, 
there attaches mightier wealth of pride and glory than ever before to that 
loved boast, " I am an American citizen !" 

In relinquishing the implements of war for those of peace, let your 
conduct ever be that of warriors in time of war, and peaceful citizens in 
time of peace. Let not the lustre of that bright name that you have won 
as soldiers, be dimmed by any improper act as citizens, but as time 
rolls on, let your record grow brighter and brighter still. 

John A. Logan, 

Major-General. 



478 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



General Belknap, commanding the Fourth. Division 
of Blair's Corps, at the same time addressed to the 
writer of these pages a letter, in which he said : 

" I am grateful for the friendship ever shown me 
by the officers and men of your gallant regiment. 
None better ever served in my command, and they 
early won my regard by their dutiful obedience, kind 
consideration, and soldierly qualities. It will ever 
give me pleasure to meet you or any of your com- 
rades." 



A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 



479 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 

[ORTLY after arriving at Louis- 
ville, tlie Illinois brigade, as it 
was now known, comprising tlie 
14th, 15th and 32d Illinois 
Regiments, was embarked upon 
steamboats for St. Louis. In- 
stead of being landed, and sent 
to Springfield for muster - out, 
as they had been led to expect, 
the troops were dismayed to find the boats con- 
tinue up the Missouri River to Fort Leavenworth. 
There they received orders to provide themselves with 
a suitable wagon-train, and march to Utah, where 
difficulties existed with both Indians and Mormons. 

This was an unforeseen event. What it all meant 
no one knew. The troops, however, conjectured one 
of two causes. These three regiments, among the 
oldest in the service, through casualties of war h^ 3 
become so greatly depleted that the late assignments 




480 



MARCHING 



THROUGH 



GEORGIA. 



of drafted men and recruits, received at Goldsboro' 
and Raleigh, made them almost new regiments, the 
old soldiers being outnumbered by the " conscripts " 
four to one. Forces being needed at the West, these 
regiments had been ordered to the duty as being prac- 
tically new troops. Either this, or the brigadier, 
desirous of being retained in the service, possessed 
sufficient influence to have a command set off for him, 
whether the exigencies of the service made it neces- 
sary or not. 

The latter was the popular verdict, and the General 
was cursed with a heartiness and euphonic originality 
which was probably never surpassed, even in the 
swamps of the Carolinas. The officers were fully as 
much disgusted as the men, and the entire command 
was at the very verge of mutiny. The veterans argued 
that they were under no moral obligation to obey the 
order to go West. They had enlisted early in '61, 
' ; for three years unless sooner discharged/' and when 
they found that the war was not to be disposed of in 
that time, they had re-enlisted. The war was now 
over, and in all equity they were relieved of their con- 
tract. Nothing was said, in their oath of enlistment, 
about serving after the close of the war, or about 
fighting Indians or Mormons. They might be ordered 
to South America with as much justice. These were 
the sentiments expressed by the old soldiers — the 
" conscripts " were not taken into the account at all, 



A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 



481 



and would have received no sympathy if they had 
been ordered to march to Hades; but they complained 
as bitterly as the others. The officers, however, and 
many of the veterans, resented the idea of mutiny, and 
discountenanced desertion, believing the injustice was 
so evident that, upon proper representations to the War 
Department, the order would be revoked and the men 
speedily mustered out. Furthermore, they were deter- 
mined that no act of theirs, no matter what the provo- 
cation, should cloud their long and honorable record. 
Accordingly, a statement of the case and a remon- 
strance was prepared and telegraphed to Washington, 
over the signatures of a number of the field, line and 
staff officers. 

July 21st arrived, the day set for the beginning of 
the march, and no reply having been received from 
Washington, the command left camp, their faces 
turned westward, following a New York cavalry regi- 
ment and a battery of artillery, as much out of humor 
as themselves. 

The Illinois Infantry Brigade numbered nearly 
two thousand men, and was commanded by Brigadier- 
General C. J. Stolbrand, who had attained dis- 
tinction as General Logan's chief of artillery, an 
arm of the service in which he had been trained in 
Europe, and of which he was a thorough master. The 
writer was his adjutant-general. 

The line of march lay along the old Government 
31 



482 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



trail via Fort Kearney, It was only about twenty 
years ago, but it was " old times" for all that. There 
was not a foot of railroad iron west of the Missouri 
river, and each day Ben Halliday's heavy overland 
stage coaches rolled by, coming and going, escorted 
by a guard of cavalry; and the fleet-footed "pony 
express " sped past as if on lightning wings. Here 
and there "doby" houses (made from sun-dried bricks, 
after the Mexican fashion), changing-places for the 
stage teams and pony-express horses, were the only 
visible evidences of civilization, or, more correctly 
speaking, of human existence. It was wearisome enough 
to ride or walk, day after day, over those uninhabited 
plains, ascending and descending with the roll of the 
ground, reaching the summit of one hillock, hoping to 
see a house, or a tree, or a human being, only to 
behold the summit of another hill outlined against the 
sky still further on, The monotonous scenery and 
want of incident in the march begot in the breasts 
of the men great repugnance to the untamed West, 
and many gave expression to the conviction that the 
good Lord never intended that region for aught else 
than Indians and buffaloes. They consequently re- 
frained from being millionaires to-day, by contemptu- 
ously refusing to pay thirty-seven and a half cents 
an acre for what is now some of the most productive 
and thickly populated land in Kansas and Nebraska. 
Game was abundant along the route,- and on 



A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 



483 



several occasions the troops halted for a clay's hunt. 
They had all the comical experiences of the "tender- 
foot" on the plains, including the attempt to run 
down the supposed crippled jack-rabbit, which hobbled 
off on three legs, but, when crowded a little, put 
down his fourth, and soon distanced the fleetest 
dog. Antelope and elk were very numerous. Great 
strategy was necessary to ensure a successful shot at 
the former; but the latter traveled in great droves, 
and were hunted more successfully. At one time 
everybody in the brigade who owned a horse, or could 
borrow an animal of any description from the wagon- 
train, went into a grand skirmish line; and by keeping 
on the hills, managed to surround a large drove of 
elk in the valley between. A fierce fire was opened all 
along the line and a quantity of game killed ; but the 
experiment was rather disagreeable to the hunters, 
balls from the long-range Springfield rifles on the 
opposite side of the circle of hunters, whistling un- 
pleasantly near, entirely too much after the fashion 
of old times in Georgia. 

August 7th, the command reached the Little Blue 
river, in Nebraska — a territory then — something more 
than two hundred miles from Fort Leavenworth, and 
seventy-five from Fort Kearney. This had been the 
scene of the Indian uprising which desolated the beau- 
tiful valley and made necessary the presence of troops. 
Just one year before, the Government made a payment 



484 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



to the Pawnees and Clieyennes for ceded lands, and 
the Indians took great offense because it was made in 
paper money instead of coin. They made a concerted 
raid upon the settlements, and murdered great num- 
bers, women and children as well as men, and drove 
away Wo regiments of cavalry. On the Cotton- 
wood the destruction had been fearful, and pathetic 
evidence of the sufferings of the settlers was visible 
in the ruins of their burned cabins, and door-yards 
where flowers reared by woman's hand yet peeped 
through the weeds which had overgrown them since 
the work of murder and rapine was accomplished. 

Each night that the brigade went into camp, some 
of the dissatisfied soldiers deserted and took the 
road homeward. Each morning the column was 
shorter than on the day previous. The total number 
of deserters during the march was about five hundred. 
Many threats upon the life of the General were made, 
for he was supposed to be responsible for the march. 
One night, a canteen of gunpowder was exploded at 
the entrance to one of the headquarters tents, wreck- 
ing it and driving the occupants out-doors amid an 
eruption of fire and smoke. The adjutant had made 
every effort to place reliable guards over the General's 
quarters during the entire march, but even they often 
deserted. In one instance, he went to his former 
company and detailed as officer of the headquarter 
guard, a trim, soldierly sergeant who had been his 



A SUPPLEMENTAL CAMPAIGN. 485 

comrade from the very day of enlistment, and with 
whom he would have risked his life. Upon this 
trusted soldier he placed a special obligation, con- 
fiding to him the General's security, and perhaps his 
life. Even this sergeant, least expected of all others, 
deserted the second night he went on duty. The 
General, probably looking upon the personal risk as 
entirely too hazardous, although he did not lack 
courage, as a long and honorable service amply tes- 
tified, finally relinquished his command, and rode back 
to Fort Leavenworth with a small detachment of 
troops passing in that direction. He was succeeded 
by Brevet-Brigadier-General Cyrus Hall, Colonel of 
the 14th Illinois, a brave and tried officer, and ex- 
tremely popular with his men. 

August 10th, the brigade arrived at Fort Kearney, 
twenty days out from Fort Leavenworth. The garri- 
son was very friendly, and several days were spent in 
hunting and preparing to continue the march. 

From this place further explanations and remon- 
strances were telegraphed to Washington, and a few 
days later, orders were received in response, directing 
the command to retrace its steps and proceed to 
Springfield for muster-out. 

On the 14th, the homeward march was begun. As 
the command neared its destination, many of the 
deserters hastened to rejoin, resuming their place in 
the ranks in time to be properly discharged. Many 



486 MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 

more, however, failed to appear, and their record is 
just now being "whitewashed" by an act of forgive- 
ness contained in a recent act of Congress. 

It was so recently as last August, at the reunion of 
the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, at Lake 
Minnetonka, that the writer, in conversation with 
General William T. Clark, former Adjutant-General of 
the Army of the Tennessee, learned that the Illinois 
Brigade was sent West solely because troops were 
needed. It was only the ill luck of this command that 
the errand fell to its lot instead of some other. As 
a matter of fact, many veteran troops were sent to the 
Mexican border at the close of the war, and remained 
in service until the April following, six months aftar 
the muster-out of the Illinois Brigade. 



THri LAST PARADE. 



487 



CHAPTEE XLIX. 

THE LAST PARADE. 




where its ranks were first formed, upwards of four 
years before. 

The line is shorter now than it was then. Four 
out of every five of the old faces are missing. The 
uniforms, once bright and trim, are ragged and travel- 
worn. The flags, whose folds shone with resplendent 
beauty, are rent by bullet and shell, and stained with 
dust and smoke of march, camp and battle, until their 
hues are scarcely distinguishable. 



488 



MARCHING 



THROUGH GEORGIA. 



The arms are stacked, and the colors folded, The 
men break ranks — once more they are free. There 
are fervent hand-shakings, hurried farewells, and a 
parting which is forever ! The old battalion will 
respond to the "assembly" never again ! 

And so they go out into a world which has become 
new to them. They were school-boys, many of them, 
when they enlisted. They left their books unfinished, 
but are too old now to begin again at the turned-down 
page. Some had occupation four years ago, but they 
come home to find that others have stepped into the 
work they began. Old avenues are closed to them, 
old ambitions are dead, and they walk as in a dream — ■ 
as strangers in a strange land. 

To some, by-and-by, come new aspirations, leading 
them to embark in ventures they would not have dared 
but for their experience in days of hardship and con- 
flict. They take up the struggle against Fate and 
those who. having refused to do duty for their .country, 
have thus far outstripped them in the race of life, but 
despite the odds against them, they push forward to 
honorable distinction. They lead the van-guard of 
civilization in the unexplored places of the land, 
building up communities and creating states, planting 
everywhere the school-house and the printing-press, 
and leading into channels of thrift and enterprise all 
who gather about them. North anjd south, they pass 
the confines of their own land, and travel beyond seas, 



THE LAST PARADE. 



489 



spreading commerce and introducing invention, to 
the advancement of their country and their own for- 
tunes. 

Others, broken in body and weary of spirit, stoop 
their shoulders to the burden which lies nearest them, 
though it be a heavy one. Poor they are in this 
world's goods, yet are they rich — -rich in a life of 
noble effort, of heroic deed, of patriotic unselfishness, 
of broadened manhood, of conscientious citizenship. 
God bless them! The harpies who coined wealth out 
of their blood and tears, leave no such heritage to the 
children of their selfishness ! 

But now, side by side with the skeleton battalion, 
the old regimental line, as it stood on parade a thousand 
strong, before shot and shell tore through its ranks, 
before disease had done its deadly Avork, rises before 
memory's eye. It is peopled with faces once familiar 
— those of our boyhood's comradeship — whose bones 
are now the milestones marking the bloody road from 
Cairo to the Gulf, to Atlanta, to Savannah, to Raleigh 
and Mobile, Others, yet in the land of the living, are 
bending under an age older than their years, their 
limbs stiffened by weary march and exposure on tent- 
less camping-ground, or maimed by cruel shot and 
shell. All these, the comrades of long ago, are again 
young. They stand erect of form, their eyes gleam 
with undaunted courage. -Not one is missing ! 

Present — Arms ! A thousand muskets flash in 



490 



MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA. 



the sunlight. How smartly the men handle their 
pieces ! One can hear the sharp snap as the guns 
respond to the command ! 

The sergeants march to the front and report : All 
Present ! They return to their posts. 

The company officers meet on the center, close upon 
the adjutant, march forward, and salute their com- 
mander. Even while he returns the greeting, the flag 
on high flutters to the ground, and the sunset gun 
booms over the waters of the lake. 

Parade is Dismissed ! and the old battalion 
marches silently back 

44 To the camping-ground of ghosts, 
Where the spectral guides have led 
To the white tents of the dead." 

Comrades, Brothers! Hail and farewell! 4 



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